Resolve...

2009 was not a great year for me. To be blunt…it was kind of crappy. I went through some major transitions, and was forced to make choices that I otherwise would not have. I spent the last couple of months of the year looking around at my life in bewilderment.

“How the heck did I get here!?”

There’s something inherently “clean slate” about the New Year. It’s like a fresh start, a new beginning - another chance to start over again. Hence the rush that happens the last week of every year, as people scrounge to come up with their New Year’s resolutions. I haven’t had one in several years. Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely think they can be a positive spark of change in a person’s life. I just think around this time of year, they’re something people do, because it’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s probably why only about 8% of people actually achieve their resolution. I’m a little turned off by making promises for promises sake. If I resolve to do something, I want to mean it and most importantly, I want to actually do it!

I’m a huge fan of dictionaries. I think we use way too many words that we don’t even really understand. Here are a few eye opening definitions…

Resolve – To come to a firm decision about something
Firm – Unyielding, solid, unlikely to give away, unbending

This year, for the first time in a long time I’m encouraging myself to make some
resolutions…Now it didn’t happen before January 1st like it’s supposed to. But I’ve really started thinking about some things I’d like to accomplish. I was having a little quiet time the other day when I thought…”What if this is the year I REALLY let God CHANGE my life?” What If I let him change the areas of my life that have grown familiar, comfortable, and stale? When I thought that, it hit me that I REALLY want to do that.

I really want to stop being scared of that.

I really want to open up my hands and surrender the things that I’ve been holding on to for so long.

Surrender – To yield, to the possession or power of another – To give up, to abandon
Abandon – To leave completely and FINALLY, to desert, to yield without restraint or moderation

That's my prayer for this year. That it would be a year that I yield without restraint or moderation. A year in which I completely abandon myself to all that God has for me...

Bring it on!