this must be it, welcome to the new year;

You know what? I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I really like the idea of New Year's Resolutions. There is something very exciting and hopeful to me about starting fresh with a new year and setting (attainable) goals for that year.

I've been feeling very excited about 2011. I look at the next 12 months, and I see all of the possibilities that God has laid out in front of me. I see huge value in putting some of the things that He's placed on my heart into goals, and seeing where He takes me with them. I have never made a New Year's Resolution before, but there are always areas of my life that I know I can improve. I figure there is no better place to start than at the edge of this new year.

I want to improve my body's health. I'm starting with Wii Fit. Lame? Probably a little bit. But it makes me feel really good, and I can't commit to a gym membership until I fully commit to this. Fitness has never been something I've taken all that seriously, but recently I've been really inspired by people in my life and the way that they have been disciplined in improving theirs. I've come to a new understanding of the value of physical fitness, and I know that I need to improve mine. My body is a temple and I need to start taking that seriously.

I want to love people better. To be honest, this is definitely an ongoing resolution of mine, but I'm realizing that if I want to love like Jesus, I need to look at my closest relationships and evaluate the way that I love those people. I want to be attentative to the ways that the people I love feel loved most, and respond to those love languages.

I want to focus on being content. I love thinking about the future. I love thinking about my future marriage, my future career, my future home, my future this, my future that. I'm not sure that there is anything wrong with this necessarilly, but I've learned this year that hoping for the future sometimes distracts me from being content with the present. I don't want to forget that God's plan for my life is here and now, and not only in the future. One of my besties posted a quote in her blog last week that really struck me. It said "we're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are." This year I want to enjoy my now. I want to remember to enjoy where I am.

I am incredibly excited for where God takes me and these goals of mine this year. I'm always amazed at the way He impresses things upon my heart and motivates and encourages me to grow as a follower of His Son.

Happy New Year to anyone who is reading this, may you find hope in the prospect of a fresh start in 2011, and in the goals that you may set over the course of the next 12 months.

Andi xo