Happy New Year

"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before."  (Philippians 3:13)

The New Year is not present with us.  Only a new day!  So it will be continually.  We shall see but one day at a time.   As I read that I thought how true this is.  The year is like a journal.  The page is white to begin with.  At times I will write and then have to mark something out.  It is then that I start over.  But not so with each day.  When the day is gone we can't go back. 

There are a few things I want to write in my journal this year.  First, I want the will of God done each day.

Sometimes it isn't easy to know His will so that means I will have to spend more time in the Word and Prayer to get the will of God.  This I want to do.

Next, I want to be more compassionate and thoughtful of others. I want to make a difference in someone's life.  Do you know that just a "Thinking of you" card might make a difference in someone's life?   (Just a Christmas Card that we got from our grandson meant more to me than all the other presents.)   It was the message in the card that made my Christmas.  It is not a great big difference so that others will notice.  It is all the little differences that will add up at the end of the year.  

I want to write encouraging words down.  As I have grown older I realize that young people need to be encouraged.  Pastors need encouragement.  The Saints need encouragement from each other.  Let's be an encourager!

I want to write pleasant thoughts.  Positive thoughts!  I don't want to dwell on negativity.  I don't want to dwell on self.  "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight."
If we would pray that prayer each day we might  find ourselves saying less.  I want to watch my heart and my mouth.

I want to be a peace maker.  Sometimes being a peace maker is not easy.  Especially when it comes to family.  But if giving up something to keep peace in the family, then keep peace.  It is worth all the effort.  The lord will make up the difference.   This is just a few things that I want to do in 2011.

At the end of the day, look back over your journal and take inventory.  Whether your journal is written on the fly leaf of your mind or written down on paper, just take a peek at it.  Tomorrow  is another day.

I have always like this poem.  It has such a good meaning.

THE BRIDGE BUILDER

"An old man going a lone highway,

Came at the evening, cold and gray.

To the chasm vast and deep and wide,

Through which was flowing a raging tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim:

The sullen stream had no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side,

And built a bridge to span the tide.

'Old man' said a fellow-pilgrim near;

'You are wasting your strength building here;

Your journey will end with the closing day;

You never again will pass this way.

You've crossed the chasm deep and wide,

Why build this bridge at eventide?'

The builder lifted his old gray head.

'Good friend, in the path I have come,' he said,

There followeth after me today;

A youth whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm which has been as naught to me,

To the fair-haired youth may a pitfall  be;

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

Now that I am older and have crossed many bridges that someone built for me ~ I realize how important it is to be a bridge builder for the younger generation.  This I want to do.   I may not accomplish everything I set out to do in 2011 ~ but we need a journal to write some plans.  At the end of the year I want my journal to be pleasing to God.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH ALL OF IT'S 365 DAYS.