St. George & the Dragon by Trina Schart Hyman |
In keeping with my promise on Friday, here are a few of my New Year's resolutions, which all seem to have to do with learning, because I have a lot to learn.
- Have more fun with writing this year. Don't get stressed with it and think of it as work. Play with it. Learn it.
- Do new things. Don't stay inside my bubble of writing-related stuff. Branch out and learn something completely different.
- Wrap up school/college, and savor learning along the way.
- Learn to be a servant not only in the big things, but also in the little things as well.
And since, without repentance, serious resolutions can never come to be, here is my chief New Year's repentance:
I am lazy, complacent, and afraid of pain. I need to:
I am lazy, complacent, and afraid of pain. I need to:
Put off: staying comfortable, which is serving myself.
Put on: willingness to serve other people, even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts. When it's inconvenient or humiliating. When it's exhausting and uncomfortable.
So it seems to follow that for 2013 my word is servant. Because God has done so much for me, it gives me a desire to do much for other people. Right now I feel like I have almost a hunger to serve, to take care of and take charge of the big things. That's why I took on not only the church Christmas play, but also the children's choir. However, in 2013 I want to focus on being a servant not only in the big things but the little things as well. I want to use this time I've been given to serve as exorbitantly and passionately as I possibly can, wherever I am. I want to be used up with service. I want to empty my store of love. Only when that happens can you find that is actually overflowing.
2013 is a year that will be filled with dragons. Economic and financial dragons. Relational and spiritual dragons. Mental and physical dragons. 2013 is the year of the snake, the year of temptation, the year of the serpent. What 2013 needs is dragon-slayers. But it needs dragon-slayers who are servants, which is why I sorely need to learn this lesson.
But before I can slay dragons I need to repent of the dragons I have not slain, that I have allowed to flourish and grow instead. Before I can learn to serve and be selfless I need to repent of having been selfish.
Repentance is putting off the old and putting on the new. God grant me the grace to repent this coming year, to take what He gives me with blessing, and to pour out myself in love to other people.
God grant us all the grace to crush the head of the snake beneath our feet this year.