Clean slate

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It is interesting to me how our minds make some days out to be much more important than other days. I'm not talking about events like a dinner party or a family vacation. I am talking about a day that has more meaning than the rest of the days of the year. New year's day is the day we all have a clean slate.

People are amazing. We are varying sizes, have different abilities, display different personalities. Different but yet all the same in a few areas. One of those areas is we all have a sense of hope and a need of purpose for our lives.

I read a cute little saying and shared it with some people a few weeks ago. ...... Yesterday is history..... Tomorrow's a mystery.... and today is a gift........ that's why it's called the present. Is that the way we see each day? As a gift to open and enjoy?

When you were, oh let's say 8 years old, that most likely was what each day was to you. An amazing number of hours to embrace and squeeze the life out of. There are highlighted moments that would come, like your birthday party, summer vacation, Christmas day. Life was pretty much about what you wanted and needed and could experience in your very young life.

This is not the way we can continue, of course, since life cannot continually revolve around our demands forever. My dad used to tell me, "you can't always have what you want", which at the time was an awful thing to hear, but as I grew up and understood life more, I could see that his statement was very true.

I listened to a message this morning about relationships. It gave basic points but they are worth repeating. In a nutshell: 1) I need to place my relationship with God first. That is the base of all things. 2) I need to put my relationship with myself next. Why? If I don't like me, I will not get along with others in a healthy way. I spend the most time with me, so I better learn to like who I am! 3) I need to place my relationship with others third. Spouse and then family and friends.
This order can easily get mixed up. We all have relationships. They need time given to them in order to be. If I am not getting much out of them, I should analyze my priorities. Then I should see how much effort I am giving to them. Healthy relationships. A good thing to remember for 2009.

Speaking of giving, what is the hope there? Giving time, energy, emotion, money, resources, or whatever else, has a personal attachment to it. We can't help it; it's there. Perhaps there is a hope of acceptance attached to it. Or the desire for a positive reply. Maybe the gift is a tangible way to display love, instead of the giving of time. Gifts can be wrapped with many conditions. God offers gifts to all - righteous or not. He shows the perfect example of giving and states to simply give and then it shall be given to you... It doesn't say when or by whom. Unconditional giving. A God thing to remember for 2009.

I really meant to keep this post short and kinda sweet. I trust you are reading my words as a positive progression. Summing up, the first day of any year is one of those meaningful days. We can't help but think we can clean our slate, make some resolutions to strive for and have hope for a better year, a better me. The cold hard fact is, hope takes its time. It is not instant. We can't be one way one day and, poof, become something different the next. We need to work at betterment. We cannot let the purpose go. Will there be failure? Most likely so. But the hope that our good God placed is in us can rise up each and every day to do its work. That is probably the most important thing to remember in 2009.

Happy New Year!