It is both awesome and humbling to reach an appointed destination and look back and see the road traveled on the journey.
Teton Pass El. 8428 ft.
June21, 2998

Reflections on a New Year’s Resolution

 I did actually sit down and begin this post on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2014, but was distracted and played “Tag, You’re It!” (see previous post) instead.  Oh, that I had resisted the distraction!  Anyway. . .

In considering the resolution thing for the New Year, I am baffled.  Yes, there are some things I would like to do/accomplish in 2014, but do I really want to “resolve” to do them, or as Nike so aptly put it, “Just Do It!”  My record with resolution making/keeping is mediocre at best.  Hopefully yours is better!  Yes, I would like to lose 15-20 lbs.  Isn’t that the trendy resolution these days!  I want to spend more time writing, and I really need to clean out those closets.  And, I always want to spend more time outdoors kayaking and hiking, but given where I live, that usually involves more travel time.  Yes, I would like to travel more in 2014!  So, there you go!

But, hey! I really just want to be, be present in the moments, behold the Christ within me and those around me – be they lover, friend, family, or a stranger in the midst.  Who knows what the New Year will BE – until it actually IS?

I did clean a closet yesterday and found this – a personal journal entry dated:

JANUARY 1, 1995 – Sunday

I am not much for New Year’s Resolutions.  It always seemed rather peculiar.  Committing to do something just because it was the beginning of a new year.  But I suppose we all like the idea of a fresh start, a clean slate.  My experience has been that give a week or two and the whole idea has been forgotten.  The old familiar pattern of doing things has crept back in.  Actually, it never was out.  So, no resolutions for me!

Today as I baked cup cakes and danced around the kitchen, I felt a serge of excitement about the approaching new year.  Outrageous!  That’s it!  No resolutions just a desire to experience life to the fullest in the new year.  To live outrageously – extravagantly, remarkably, outside the bounds of the expected.  Not moderately, mildly, or with mediocrity.  But outrageously!

To live, love, and laugh outrageously.
To ascend to the pinnacle of joy.
To plummet to the depths of despair.
To smell the wind;
To feel the flagrant flower.
To see life in every view;
To know truth in every day.
To love sincerely, affectionately, and purely.
To honor self, others, and God in every way.
To work and serve both man and God.
And to do it all outrageously!
TO BE OUTRAGEOUS!  FREE!  RECKLESS!  SPONTANEOUS!
That is my desire for the New Year – 1995.

Wow!  That was nineteen years ago!!  Looking back, I must say that 1995 was an OUTRAGEOUS year.  It was a year of extravagant love and crushing loss.  It was a year of intense personal struggle and soul searching.  It was the year that shook the foundation of my life, my identity, and marked the beginning of a directional shift in my life and spiritual journey.  It was a year that was devastating in the moment, yet invaluable and vital to who I am today.  Don’t want to repeat it, but so thankful for it!

On second thought, maybe I will make that resolution for 2014:

A desire to experience life to the fullest in the new year.  To live outrageously – extravagantly, remarkably, outside the bounds of the expected.  Not moderately, mildly, or with mediocrity.  But OUTRAGEOUSLY!

Uuuh, maybe not outrageous in the same way as 1995, but certainly outrageous for life in 2014!  I can’t wait!!  Just do it!