Resolve to Not Resolve

I could make a resolution to

Eat Healthy and Clean -
You try doing this while cooking for 3 families living in your home, three to six extra teens,
a grown child and grandchild - and still having money
for the occasional Starbucks

  Keep the house spotless clean –Ha! I live with a toddler and a teenage, and on an average day have a dozen people coming in and out of my house.

  Never get mad at my husband – I’ll make this resolution if he resolves to never make me mad

 Always be patient –Even when a child pees on my floor, colors on my walls, or a teen misses the “basket” with the Dr Pepper can, then leaves the trash on the floor

Keep the car clean – I can’t make this on for the shear selfishness of it - what would my husband do for fun on the weekends if I did?

  Get more sleep –I could drug Kymee, shut down the teens gaming system, and kick the newborn living with us to the street

Have more facebook friends – seriously, I have no time to keep up with my current friends, why do 
I care what people I knew 30 years ago are doing? (No offense current “old” friends – you’re the ones who made the cut)

Have more time to myself -
Should have thought of this one when we were almost empty nesters
and decided to adopt a baby

So much for resolutions I won’t make. So what is my resolution?

In 2014 I resolve . . . not to resolve.

I am a planner. I love to plan everything to a tee. I set goals, schedules and plan accordingly. I have a list of long term, short term and immediate goals. Then God messes them up. He never allows me to stay in my box. So often he has greater things in store for me than I could even imagine. If 2013 taught me anything it was that sometime the interruption is more important than the goal down the road. I don’t regret a minute of the time I changed my plans to sit with my Mami while she was dying. I don’t regret the counseling thrown into our schedule, but not planned for.

So this year, I’ll make plans. I’ll follow them until God tells me otherwise – but I resolve to day by day be open to whatever He wants me to do, and be willing to change direction whenever He calls me to do so. I resolve to wake up every day and say, “God what do you have in store for me today?” And if I don’t hear back from Him, I go about my plans – which have been prayed over as well.

   I resolve to stop cleaning my house if a “chatty” friend stops by to talk about her troubled child – and just sit and listen.

I resolve to  stop mid-sentence and pray when led by the Holy Spirit

I resolve to stop “schooling” if a friend or family member is in need of help – this is a much greater lesson than math anyway.

 I resolve to stop watching my favorite TV show when my husband calls from a business trip

I resolve – Not to resolve what God wants me to do, but to be open, waiting and willing for Him to lead me daily into the unknown.