What it means to have a heart goal

I am not making any new year's resolutions this year - at least not on paper. I used to make them, but often, probably like you, I didn't keep them.

Let's just say life got in the way.

This year, I thought about what I wanted to improve about myself. And I've decided I want to work on the inner being versus picking something like, "Write a book this year," or "Put out 3 blog posts a week." Something happens to me when I do that.

Suddenly, it's all about the numbers, all about the data, and not about the heart or spirit of the thing.

My heart goal may be too spiritual for me to write down. I think it is. So I will leave it at that.

Just know, that you can have one too. And it doesn't have to be written on paper, and you don't have to tell anyone that you have set it, and you can keep it in your heart and mind all year. You can talk to God about it. He knows anyway because He knows you and loves you.

Photo by Christopher Beloch on Unsplash

I took my Christmas tree down early this year

It's been a tough year. Rather than go through all of the details, let's just say I took my Christmas tree down early this year. 

No, it didn't go down before Christmas, but, for those of you who know me, the past few years I have kept it up through Valentine's Day. Yes, I switch the ornaments out, and yes, I usually love keeping the tree up just that much longer, but this past year I was ready for a new start - a start that didn't bring any of the past year's stuff with it.

Photo by Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

My husband asked me if taking the tree down was hard to do. It wasn't.

I wondered if I'd miss having it lit up in my living room. I haven't.

You must be thinking, "Wow, she must have had a terrible year."

And you'd be right.

That doesn't mean great stuff didn't happen last year, but there was a lot of hard stuff that didn't want to end. Much of it is still going on though I have been given the strength to walk through it.

Perhaps that's what this life is about anyway. Not parties, surely, and not always glittering Christmas trees, but living life and seeing what you're made of. Making those choices that will mean the most to you in the end. The stuff of life that is truly important. Loving, serving, teaching, listening, striving to be better, searching for truth and sticking to it. Wavering, maybe, but returning to the foundation over and over again, to the truth you have always known and loved even though it hasn't always been easy.

Photo by John Price on Unsplash

Trees are beautiful symbols of love and truth and hope. But sometimes, that hope, that truth, that love, comes in other forms that need to be seen and remembered. A hug on the legs by a Kindergarten child and the words, "I love you, teacher." A meal created by your husband and brought to you on a lonely night when you are tired. A prayer with your name in it. A friend who texts about her granddaughter's cancer and you are given hope that your own daughter's cancer will be overcome.