2014: New Year's Day

I absolutely love New Years. I have always loved waiting for that last minute on New Year's Eve until the brand new year introduces itself. I have always eagerly anticipated writing down my New Year Resolutions on a fresh piece paper in my journal. A new year, new goals, a new me. That is something I have sought for year after year. It's always been fun for me to look back in my journals and see what my goals were and if I had accomplished them or not. Even if I had a list a hundred items long, if I had just achieved one resolution, I had succeeded. 

The past couple of years, I have followed in my sister-in-law Shannon's example by choosing one word and working to incorporate that word into my life for that year. I have enjoyed doing that. This year I am doing something a little different though. I'll explain. A few weeks ago I attended a women's Christmas dinner provided by my church. It was wonderful, and the main point of it was towards the end of the dinner, one woman talked about the significance of the wise men in the Christmas story, and how much they meant to her. She loved that they had traveled so long, and so far, to bring gifts to the baby Jesus- that they not only brought physical gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Christ, but they had each brought Him the gift of time. This woman then invited the rest of us ladies to think about the upcoming year, and ask ourselves, "What is my gift for Christ this year?" She told us we could adopt this phrase into our lives, and instead of making a list of New Year Resolutions, we could seriously ponder this phrase and mold it into our lives. I took this invitation to heart, and really began to consider all that the Savior had given me personally. Even though I will forever be in His debt, I knew that I have my whole life to improve myself and to grow closer to Him. So I figured I would still choose a word to represent my year, and intertwine that with the gift I am giving my Savior this year. Here is what I came up with. 

Rec.la.ma.tion: the act or process of reclaiming, the state of being reclaimed. 

This year, I will strive to reclaim myself. For the past few years, I have kind of lost confidence in my own abilities, on my self-worth, and completely putting my trust and faith in Jesus Christ. My gift to Him this year is reclaiming my faith in Him. I want to strive to put Him first, so in order to do that, I need to determine what is most important to me and make some changes. For instance, something I have always been shy about is letting it be known to others that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have always been respectful of other religions and life choices, and I was always afraid of offending someone, or having them think differently of me because of my religion. Not anymore. At this time in my life, it is time for me to stand firm. I need to reclaim myself as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and that includes putting my complete trust and faith in Jesus Christ. 

I know if I do this- putting my faith in Christ, then I will somehow be able to reclaim myself. I will be able to enjoy each day, and not spend so much time worrying on the future. I love this quote by Marjorie Pay Hinckley: 


So there you go. Just a little bit about where I hope my new year takes me. Happy 2014, may it be a wonderful year for all.