Usually I do my yearly recap early in the day, January 1; but for numerous reasons, I’ve been unable to up until now. Each year, I like to recap my year, looking back on my triumphs and failures and look forward to the upcoming year.
So what did 2013 bring to us this year? As is a common theme in life, change. Life changes constantly, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but we can be guaranteed it will change. So what change stands out to me this year?
Family
Probably the biggest change is having my son Trey graduate high school. I couldn’t have been prouder of what he had accomplished throughout his life and was excited to see him move on to the next phase of his life, but I was saddened as well, because my little boy was all grown up. We all grow and change as much as we often want things to stay the same, they don’t. I look at Trey now as a young man finding his way through life and I’m happy to be there for support when he needs some.
Every day I look at him and remember the young boy that used to climb up on my lap or ride on my shoulders, yet I see the man he has become. Ready to start life with vigor and lead his own way. I hope I did my job well, as my father did with me, and he remembers he always has a place with us. 2014 will be a great year for him.
Faith
Another change that I’ve made for myself, is a renewing of my vigor for God. I realize that I am nothing without God. I have become excited once more to learn more, grow more and share more. Hence my renewal of this blog. When I was active on this blog before, I actually stressed over posting articles. I would stress over getting the article just right and worrying over how many people read it and if the message was right. Thus the longer I wrote, the more stressful and less fun it became. I didn’t want to write anymore because it was too much work. And eventually, it faded away and the writing stopped.
When I renewed this blog, I still want to make sure the message is right and that as many people read it as possible, but my main goal has become to just put on “paper” so to speak, my feelings and thoughts. I want to share my studies and what I’ve learned and even if no one else reads it, it has become therapeutic for me. So my posts have become less predictable, less regular, but I hope they show the are more from the heart than they were before.
I have some ideas on ways to expand this blog in 2014 and have it reach more people, but everything I do is prefaced with the thought, is this coming from my heart and does it give glory to God and therapy for me.
Self
This is where perhaps the most change needs to take place and I’m hoping that 2014 will bring much needed change. Of course I hope that my faith has been changed and continues to grow to be more like that faith Jesus talks about. I pray that our family is healthy and happy throughout the year.
I need to stop stressing over small situations until I blow them up in my own mind into major issues. I need to daily count my blessings and remember where they come from. A favorite thought of mine has been “What if God only provided us with the blessings that we thanked him for?”
I need to study my Bible more and read better commentary on scripture. I need to make sure I make the Word of God a priority in my life, not just an afterthought after a busy day. I hope hope that by sharing my studies on this blog, not only will it encourage me to do more and make them a priority (make me feel the guilt if I fall behind), but perhaps if even one person reads it and God speaks to them in some way through my post, then it was all worth it.
Favorite posts from the past
Many blogs will post the most popular or their favorite posts from the past year. Well I don’t have many posts from 2013 since I just started it back up again in the late fall, so let me link to some of the posts over the history of this blog that even I like to return to and reread.
- Build Something Small – a nice post about how something small, can make a huge difference in someone’s life.
- What is an exceptional christian? – the post that started it all and will give some meaning behind this blogs title.
- Test your assumptions
- God Tears a man down, just to lift him up – Some history on my life, but based around one of my favorite quotes of all time.
- Practice Makes Permanent – This is something I’m still working on, so I need to be reminded often.
- Occupy Charity at Christmas – Yes, this was in response to the occupy movement a few years back. This is something that we all can relate to.
- What can you do with tomorrow? – A good question to end the day on.
- The dumbest person in the world – learning and growing.
These are just some of my favorites, I hope you enjoy and perhaps can find some use in your own life.
2014 – Here we go
So off we go into 2014. One of the things that is always consistent is that time moves forward. 2014 is here whether we want it to be or not. I plan on making the most of the year and I hope you can resolve to as well. I’m always happy to hear from any readers I may have and if something resonates with you that I’ve written please let me know. God is great and he has great plans for us in 2014.
Exceptional Christian 