It must exist. That magical combination of sounds and symbols which will inspire and motivate the new me.
The healthier, skinnier, more organized, kinder, wiser…
not to mention hospitable, well-read, well-groomed, attentive…
DAILY: meditating on God’s Word, giving my husband massages, writing my blog and/or novel, doing speech therapy exercises, inspiring good behaviour in pre-teens, reading to and with littles, quizzing spelling words…
cavorting with unicorns, catching a leprechaun, giving up sugar…
the too-good-to-be-real 2013 me.
I was determined that this year’s One Word project would surpass last year. I combed through the words on other blogs and even cracked open the dictionary. I perused the many lists and goals and plans of attack I’d put together in years past. I kicked around words like: “Better” and “Higher” and “More.”
Glen laughed at my ideas of course. “That’s so YOU,” he says, and suggests I might as well pick “Should” or “Guilt” while I’m at it.
By the end of Day 1, I was deeply tired and discouraged. And I hadn’t even started yet!
I used to ride that wave of unrealistic New Year optimism for days, sometimes weeks.
This is the time of year I buy my pants two sizes smaller. I stock up on baskets/organizers/folders and hum contentedly at the thought that soon my life will be streamlined and clutter-free. I prepare my answers for the “your kids are so well-behaved… what’s your secret?” conversations that will inevitably follow our newest strategies. I float through January on a cloud of beautiful, beautiful expectations.
But this year the cold, hard grip of reality refuses to let me go.
Stupid reality.
The vast majority of my best intentions come to nothing in the end. I get overwhelmed juggling the needs of others, the tasks of basic survival and my self-improvement projects. Soon I am crushed under a mountain of my own expectations. I focus on me, me, me. I am angry that God doesn’t just swoop in and fix my life already. I am disillusioned.
I reread the purpose of One Word: “One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live.”
I do want to be better, to aim higher, to do more… but the harder I try, the worse I do. And I don’t have enough energy left to try even harder still. And I can’t fool myself any longer that the right plan or strategy or WORD will make all the difference. And I could so easily throw my hands in the air and give up: eat my weight in Christmas candy, scream at my kids until they shut up and stay in bed for the rest of the year.
God help me.
Then it came to me. I don’t need to conquer a lifetime of bad habits or wrestle a year’s worth of problems into submission; I only have to deal withTODAY.
I will live in the precious moments of TODAY. No wasting the now on what-should-be; live, enjoy, savour. No fighting the flow of turbulent, wonderful, imperfect reality. TODAY is enough.
I will handle the worries of TODAY. No beating myself up about yesterday’s faults and failures; TODAY is a new day. No fretting about tomorrow’s what-ifs and could-bes; I will trust God with my tomorrows. TODAY is enough.
I will do what I can get done TODAY. No pressure to be perfect; I will do my best, no more and no less. No expectation to be anything but what I am. TODAY I am enough.
Thank you to Melanie at onlyabreath.com for the cool graphic!
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now,
and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.
God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:34 (MSG)
So here’s me, one day at a time.
Enough about me… what’s your word/resolution for 2013?
CHRISTIE HOOS
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