Over the past couple of weeks I have heard a lot about New Year’s Resolutions. We all take this time to make goals for our lives that we believe will make us happier and cause this new year to outshine any that has come before it. I do not usually make any. Is it my fear that I will fail or is it my lack of discipline? I don’t know. The idea just doesn’t usually appeal to me. This year, however, I decided that maybe it’s not a bad idea to take a look at where I would like to see myself one year from now.
I would like to be a more patient and loving person, a lighter and more healthy person, a more obedient and submissive wife, a more attentive and affectionate mother, a more devoted and willing disciple of God. It seems that these goals can all be wrapped up in one Biblical truth. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
If I truly love others the way Jesus loves me, I will be patient and caring. He will give me compassion and a heart that longs to serve. People will see His love show through me when my words and actions mirror His. God give me strength to do this.
If I love myself as one of His children, I will care for my body as the Temple of God that it is and treasure it as a home for the Holy Spirit to fill. I will care for myself and the rest of His creation to the best of my abilities. God give me willpower and reminders of my true purpose!
Loving my husband is usually the most natural thing in the world, but if I remember to love Him the way Christ does and respect him as the head of my family, I can be a more godly wife. “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.” (Proverbs 31:10-11) Lord, help me be this wife to him.
God has blessed me with three beautiful, faithful, intelligent children . . . . whom I sometimes lose my temper with or do not give my full attention to. If I love them as Jesus does, I will keep them my top priority always and keep in mind that these days will quickly pass. As they grow older my voice will become their inner voice helping them decide right from wrong. Lord, help me to keep it a voice of reason and wisdom.
When I lead studies, participate in service projects, counsel others, write, teach, parent, and in all other parts of my life, my goal is to live these verses from the book of John. I want people to know I am His disciple by my love for them. Lord, help me be your hands and feet.
I frequently find myself torn between these thoughts and reality… In particular with the patient, loving mother part… I honestly feel like we are both doing pretty good with that… But sometimes a temper almost needs to be “lost” to emphasize something being very much not okay. I love Rylie wtih all my heart, but when she gives me the stink eye and tells me “NO!!!” when I tell her to do something, I don’t respond by hugging her and telling her gently and lovingly that “Mama doesn’t like that” …maybe this gets easier when you’re parenting children old enough to REASON!!
I think you have beautiful goals Samantha, and I am sure you are doing better at them than you give yourself credit for!!
I don’t mean to say that we should never be firm with our children, but that we should be in control of ourselves when disciplining them. In some ways reasoning with small children can be easier because they still believe that you know everything