Hope

Y'all.

I LOVE New Years Eve.  It has become one of my very favorite holidays - I just love the significance of closing the door on one chapter and opening the door to another.

I saw all these resolution bashing posts on Facebook yesterday, and I get it - I do.  No one wants to be set up for failure.

BUT.

I happen to love the concept of starting with a clean slate, with fresh eyes, with new hope.  I love the feeling of the restart that comes with the morning of January 1.  Sure, maybe you'll make resolutions and fail.  Maybe you'll fail a little, maybe you'll fail a LOT.

BUT.

Maybe you won't.  Maybe you'll succeed.  Maybe things will turn out bigger, better and brighter than you imagined.

When the New Year begins, I always think about goals or things I want to focus on for the year.  I'm not as specific as 'lose x amount of pounds' or 'go to the gym 37 times a week' - but I love sitting down for a few quiet moments, coffee in hand and daydreaming about the possibilities for the upcoming year.

HOPE.

Hope is my word for 2014.  Last year, I chose intentional - to make intentional friendships, to get all in.  In some ways I succeeded, in other ways I failed.

That's ok.  2013 kicked my you know what.  I feel like I clawed my way through 2013 thrashing and fighting but hey...I made it.  And I woke up this morning feeling full of HOPE for 2014.

Hope for...
Seeing my boys continue to grow and mature.

Hope for...
My marriage continuing to get stronger and stronger.

Hope for...
Friendships, both new and old.

Hope for...
God shaping me and using me in new, exciting and hopefully challenging ways.

Hope for...
Ministry

Hope for...
Losing the rest of my baby weight!

Hope for...
Hope Spoken, a women's conference in Dallas, Texas that I am BEYOND excited to attend in March.

Hope for...
Dreams fulfilled.  Dreams I have and dreams I haven't even dared to dream yet.

The beginning of the year is like opening up a brand new notebook, journal or empty blog post screen with just a cursor blinking.  Most of the time you have no idea what the finished product will be until you start writing or typing.  And a new year holds a blank slate until you start living and moving and loving people.

My resolution this year is to be filled with hope.  If 2014 is anything like the last few years, it'll knock me down a few notches but I'll scratch my way back up to the surface.  And I'll make sure that this year, I stay hopeful.  This is a verse that brought me comfort in the last few months of 2013 and I'm going to make it my mantra for this year.

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." ~2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Happy New Year friends.  May your year be filled with beauty, grace, hope and love.

And Happy Birthday to my firstborn.  He turns 13 today.  I'm so blessed to get to spend my days with such a kind, generous, thoughtful and loving young man.

What is your word for 2014?