Fates and Friends

Today is 12th night.  January 5 of a new year. So much has happened in my life, I can't even take the time right now to catch you up.  But today, one of my dearest friends messaged me, asking if I would read the first excerpt of a book she's starting.  Will I??? What an honor!  The fledgling beginnings of her book are here on Blogger, so I'm going to try to link them to my page, so you can read them, too.  Because my friend has lived through so much, and her book is going to be so amazing!  I am so proud of you, Nancy!  I'll look forward to reading the rest.

But it was fateful that she would ask me to come to Blogger to read her blog on this day.  Because just two days ago, I sat down with my new planner for a new year, and wrote down in black and white (ok, blue and white, but you know what I mean...)  my goals for the coming year.  I know, I know....'New Year's Resolutions'....the ones everyone makes.....the ones everyone has broken by Groundhog's Day.  I think of mine differently.  I never look at them as 'do or die', 'succeed or fail', 'ultimate life change' kind of resolutions.  I look at them more as 'Here's where you could have done better last year.  Here's what needs to improve by the end of this year. '  And even if  I'm not 100% gung-ho, faithful to every one of them, if I look back at the end of the year, and I can honestly say, 'Hey!  I actually did improve in that area!', then you know what?  I give myself a tiny pat on the back, and a little grace, and we call that one a win.  Does that make me lazy?  Does it make me half-hearted?  I don't think so.  I think it's accepting the personality God gave me, and working - in the way that works for me to make it better.

But back to my planner....I sat down two days ago and wrote in my planner that I was going to try to write something every day.  I'm working on two books.  I have a blog.  I have a lot of relatives who live far away.  I have friends who live far away.  Maybe every day won't be work on my book - although I hope to finish one of them this year.  Maybe every day won't be a letter to a friend.  Maybe every day won't be a new blog post.  But if I work on writing something, my book will get closer to finished.  My blog will revive. My friends and family will know how often I think of them, and how much I love them.  Just the tiny practice of writing every day will improve so much of what I feel are insurmountable goals! 

So it seemed like fate when Nancy brought me to Blogger, and I realized it was exactly one year ago today that I made my last post here on my blog.  A whole year.  A whole year in which, I'll be honest, I often struggled to find the Everyday Joy.  A year in which so much seemed to be going wrong, so many decisions seemed to be the wrong ones.  So much sadness and pain enveloped my soul that some days it was hard to even breathe.  But it was also a year in which many wonderful things happened, many successes were enjoyed, many blessings bestowed.  And a year in which my Darling Husband often encouraged me to restart my blog, because he knows I need to focus more on the Everyday Joys, and not so much on the stuff in between.  Don't we have enough of the stuff in between without focusing on it to attract more?

So, dear reader, here I am again, asking you to give me grace one more time, to join me on this new adventure in a new place, in a new situation, which I'm sure will bring new joys I will love sharing with you in this new year and new decade!

New place, you ask?  Yes, friend,  here's just a teaser on all we have to catch up on....We're in Texas!

But for today,  I'll just end with this...Thank you, thank you Nancy, for being my everyday joy today, for being a dear, sweet friend, and for being a reminder from God today of my New Year's Resolution to write every day.