Resolution for Resolutions

It is already nine days into the New Year and I have yet to find a moment to sit down and write out some goals for this next year.  For me, the most time consuming part of the whole process is not thinking of things I want to accomplish.  Not even close… I have lists with their own lists of things I want to do.  No, I think we all know what we want to do, I think the hardest part of moving on and dreaming again for what could be is letting go of what has been.  I have heard it said that “you enter the next relationship how you left the last one”.  It’s true, and not just in relationships but in all things.  Life especially.  Before you can make resolutions you must find resolution. 

 

In the short 365 days of last year there were highs and lows, trials and triumphs, questions and answers, hello’s and farewell’s, goals accomplished and goals forgotten, things you never want to remember and things you never want to forget.  So much life lived and things experienced, all working in one way or another for our benefit.  But it’s time now to lay it to rest.  My friend, it’s time.  There are big things on the horizon that can only be achieved once we’ve said farewell to 2013… So here it is, my farewell…

 

This may age me a bit, but there used to be a very popular show called “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”  (Can I sidebar a moment and just say, who is saying “no” to this question?  You can help a lot of people… and buy a lot of shoes… with that kind of money!)  If you aren’t familiar with this TV show, let me help you to imagine what it was like.  Imagine taking a multiple choice test that ranged from “my little sister would know this answer” to “I must have missed this section in my pointless knowledge class”, all while under a time limit, oh yea and in front of the whole world.  No pressure.  Test anxiety, schmest anxiety.  Think Jeopardy but with only one contestant who sits in a chair with a spotlight shining down on it like during a police interrogation.  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

 

The only bright spot of the whole show were these three wonderful options in case you got stuck (which in my case would be on question 2).  There was the poll the audience option, the fifty fifty, or the phone a friend.  PHONE A FRIEND!  I don’t know about you, but I have some friends amazingly gifted in the knowledge of random-facts in my phone.  Like for instance, my sister.  She’ll pull little jewels of useless knowledge out all the time.  Like did you know that a woman who wears lipstick eats about eight pounds of it every year?  I did.  I can thank my sister for that!  This option is my favorite on the show but you can only use it once… bummer!  Once you call a friend you must continue on with the rest of the questions without their help.   

 

I am sure that if I called a friend on question 2, that I would seriously be kicking myself once I reached questions 7 or 8.  If I reached question 7 or 8, let’s be honest.  But it isn’t the fault of my friend.  It is part of the game.  I can get mad or frustrated but it will do me no good.  That question is over, they gave me the best help they could offer, and now it is time to move on.  Time to let it go.

 

And here comes the point of my taking time to describe to you a such an outdated TV show… That level (2013) is done with.  It’s time to let it go.  God brought people into your life to help you in one way or another to get through and for some reason if they didn’t make it to this New Year, be thankful for the time you shared and move on.   You are that much further in life because of them.  You have that many more funny stories to tell and memories to share with the future grandkids because of them.  You learned a few lessons and gained some wisdom because of them.  Whatever the reason this next level of life doesn’t include them; don’t get so caught up on your hurt that you forget about the good times.  Life is a journey and not everyone can stick around for the whole thing.  We are each on our own paths and sometimes we get the incredibly fortunate opportunity to share a portion of it with others, but when it’s just us it doesn’t mean that somebody “missed it” or “left us”- it just means that it’s a new level and their time with us is done now.

 

So farewell, 2013.  Thank you for all you gave me- both the laughter and the tears.  I am a better person because of it.  Thank you.  But it’s time to move on now.  2014 is calling my name and I have to let you go.  I will always appreciate you and what you were in my life, but no matter how present I wish you to be, you will always be my past.  No hard feelings.  Really.  It was a great year, I wish you the best. 

 

 

 

 

Philippians 3:12-14

¹² I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. ¹³ No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.