Dear 2011

I have to admit that I felt quite sad packing up the Christmas decor this week. While I certainly look forward to the new year, I love the holidays more than the average girl and always feel a certain amount of melancholy as I watch the season quickly fade away.  This year, however, brings new possibilities and along with new possibilities comes excitement!  I have a lengthy list of resolutions,  and I'll share the first with you today.  This probably shouldn't be "labeled" as a resolution, but it was put at the top of the list for 2011 and is certainly worthy of mention:

Spend every single day, no matter how busy life gets, in the Bible and in prayer. 

Do you ever feel like every thing that happens (or doesn't happen) during your day hinges on whether you have been in the word?  I have really good intentions to consistently be soaking up the Bible so that I can reflect Jesus day to day, but life seems to get the best of me more often than not, and the result isn't something I brag about. It's a "me" that I'd rather not share with others; a selfish, ugly "me". I know that spending time at the feet of the Lord each day this year will make everything else I have "planned" fall right into line where He would have it fall rather than where I anticipated it would. I'm eager to see what He has in store for 2011!

As it turns out, I find this blog intimidating.  As I sit here writing out my thoughts, I'm actually thinking that I'd rather you not know them. Perhaps because I will be accountable to you when I see you and the things I've written come up in our casual conversation or maybe just because it's something I've never done before. I've never owned a journal so I think I've technically skipped a step here by sharing my thoughts with you before I've made a habit of writing them to myself, but along with my hesitation comes anticipation for the great year we will have together.  I'll share my favorite verse with you because I think it encompasses the goal of the blog:

 Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Through this blog I hope to be able to slow down a bit and count the blessings of each day and share them with you and to use each day to share Jesus with others- not take any day for granted because we aren't promised tomorrow.

Happy New Year to you; I hope it's your best yet!

Love,
Julie