Out with the Old...
In with the New. Happy New Year everyone, and no, I haven't gone anywhere. It just has taken me until now to put away all the Christmas decorations and gather my thoughts.
Last week when everyone at my house was experiencing the post-Christmas blues, I decided to haul out the two huge Rubbermaid storage containers where I keep all the photos from the last 30 years. I figured it would be a good way to remember the past while making plans for the future. I also wanted to arrange the photos in some semblance of order--putting them in Zip-loc bags according to year. Maybe by our 40th wedding anniversary, they'll magically find their way into albums.
As I sifted through the piles of pictures, looking at each new baby, who turned into a toddler, who stood still for a toothless first day of school photo, I was struck by the sense of innocence in the eyes of our kids. Not that we didn't have our share of struggles, but there was an expectancy that life would follow a pattern: birth, early years, school, growing up, becoming an adult, marriage, kids--the usual routine. That innocence was interrupted when Bill got sick in the late 90's. You could see it in the faces in the pictures--a sense of heaviness and dread.
But, as you know if you've read this blog from the beginning, or if you know us--all of that was swept away when God miraculously healed Bill. The pictures of our home group celebrating around our kitchen table, the kids surrounding Bill as he held up the cake that says, "Happy Healing!"--so fun to remember that time.
I also noticed something else while looking at all that history: Bill and I have lived in the same house for 20 years, and have driven the same van for almost that long. Okay, not the same house and van, but identical ones--two identical houses and two identical vans. I always imagine myself to be adventurous and open to change...but the pictures tell another story. What does this tell me about the likelihood of following through on my New Year's resolutions to...change?! We are such boring creatures of habit. A more positive spin would be that we're stable. I'll go with that.
So, our pastor said last week that if we're going to follow through on resolutions, we need to not just "hope" for change, we need to make a plan. I have some ideas for plans for the coming year. Bill and I are going to nail some down on a day trip this week. I'll let you know what we come up with. Meanwhile, I need to get these pictures organized.
How about you?
Jean
For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13