I resolve... to not resolve...

It is that time of the year, again, when we all set about to lying to ourselves and everyone around us.  With the best of intentions, of course.

It goes like this: "In 2013, I really am going to ____________________________________".  Already, my friends have been making New Year Resolution boards on pintrest, and planning, and a few impatient souls have already jump started on theirs.  I admire the resolve, the desire, the optimism this takes.... but it just makes me feel tired.  Really, REALLY tired.

I have been thinking on simplicity lately.  It was an abnormally simple Christmas for my family.  No out of town relatives, no driving, no hoopla... not even the traditional big dinner. We hung out in our jammies.  We opened gifts late into the morning.  We played board games, watched a movie.  We ate simple beef stew with a loaf of home made bread.

It was the best Christmas I can remember in ages.

It was simple, it was quiet.  I was joyfully content.

Proverbs 15:30 says "The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones."

and then

Ecclesiastes 4:6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

So, in my pursuit of contented joy, do I need to make a list of things to strive for?  I think not this year!  Instead, I am going to choose contentment. With who I am.  With what we have. With how we are.

Don't get me wrong.  I am not giving up and condemning my children to live in squalor.  I am not going to become the m and m eating queen.  I am not pursuing disorganization.

But instead of being slavishly committed to a goal that statistically I will have given up on within the first week, I want to spend a little time each day and be content with where we are, what we have, who I am.  If my God will meet all of my needs according to His riches, I can rest a little easier knowing that He's got this, and I couldn't possibly do better than Him, right?

Each day this year, I hope to get to write down something happy from the day, something good.  Something worth remembering.  I hate journals, so a sentence or two is more my style.  And then, next year, when everyone is again frantically trying to figure out how to fix their (already incredibly blessed and abundant) lives in the following 365 days on a budget, I would like to take the time to read through and remember how good my life is.

And, if along the way, all of those pans I am so thankful for figure out a way to be organized and put away logically, then I can be thankful for that bonus, too!