I just love New Year's Eve. Not because of the parties and TV extravaganzas...in fact, I'm spending my night eating hot cheetos and writing this post. I love it because it is a time to reflect on all the good and bad times that made up the past year and to set goals and get excited for the year to come. I have always been a fan of making resolutions, but I've also learned that it's foolish to make an ideal plan for how you want your year to turn out. You never know what life could throw at you, in fact you don't even know if you are promised another day! A resolution shouldn't have to do with what events you want to happen in the coming year but instead the kind of person you want to be and the way you want to react to the things that might happen throughout the year. I've already thought of tons of little resolutions for myself but I wanted something solid, something I could ooze into every little crack and corner of all the different aspects of my life. Earlier today while I was looking out an airplane window, it hit me. I decided that my general, most important resolution that I want to remember every single day of 2014 is to look at life from a bird's eye view.
What exactly does that mean? I haven't quite figured out yet. Honestly I just liked the sound of it! I was leaving California after an incredible week-long trip and I decided instead of reading or sleeping, I would enjoy the view and reflect on my year. I'm glad I did because I love looking at the world from that perspective. It makes life seem more manageable. Then I got to thinkin'...what if we could look at life from a bird's eye view? I mean obviously we can't actually ever do that, it's God's job to see the map of our entire life. And I don't want to literally see what my entire life will look like, I just want to look at things from the view that there is a bigger picture. Whether I have 5 more minutes to live or 80 more years to live, my life is not just some random series of events that make me feel all different kinds of emotions. Each thing that happens has the potential to further my relationship with God and essentially the potential to further His Kingdom. But only if I let it. A friend told me the other day that it's crazy how God is dependent on us and that all we have to do is run to Him, let Him know that He can have control over a situation and He will do wonders with it. It doesn't mean that He will make it all better and make life easy again, but He will weave the situation into His master plan for your life. He'll teach you from it, help you grow stronger and wiser, reveal to you something new about Himself, or simply just comfort you. So back to the bird's eye thing. Instead of looking at failures as, well, failures and instead of living in a cloud of self-pity when something bad happens look at it from a different perspective. Life is so much more than a rough day or a breakup or a rejection letter from a school. The things we think are a big deal when they happen are really just like a little pond or hill in the big map of life. They're important and add excitement to what would be an otherwise flat, easy life...but they aren't worth obsessing over.
So that's what I've decided I want to do in 2014...look at life from a vertical perspective rather than horizontal. Instead of worry and stress over little things, I want to surrender every situation up to God and just enjoy living life with Him. He's crazy about me (and you) and wants us to have fun in our life! He doesn't want us to feel guilty or hurt or disappointed or anything. But in our time here on earth, all of that is going to happen. So the best thing to do is just hand it over to Him, let Him take care of you because that's what He does best! He takes care of the whole earth, every little person in every city...just look out an airplane window and try to wrap you brain around that. It's mind blowing how powerful and incredible He is. So why not take advantage of the fact that a God that awesome would wanna walk through life with you? I promise you that nothing is better...I just need to remember that myself when I'm worrying about the silliest little things.
Just for fun and because I love making resolutions, I'll share some more of my little ones...
1. Take more risks! Again with the idea that I want to simply treasure and enjoy life more, I think taking more risks will be an important part of that. I can get scared and shy and worry about every possible thing that could go wrong but I don't want to let that hold me back from experiencing some awesome things that this world has to offer!
2. Respect Myself. I get so caught up in pleasing other people sometimes or finding a quick fix to a problem that I lose sight of what is best for me. I don't want to become more selfish by any means..in fact I could definitely shed some selfishness in 2014. But I also don't want to live for other people or for anything other than God. He took precious time and effort to create me and I should respect & love myself enough to do only what pleases Him and if it lines up with what He wants, what pleases me, even if it isn't always what the people around me want me to do.
3. Less technology, more living. I've said this in my posts many times before, but I'll say it again. I love technology and social media and all that as much as anyone in this generation, heck I'm spending New Years Eve typing a blog post! But it has had some very negative effects on me before and in 2014 I want to be able to limit how attached I am to all my gadgets. Too much social networking has caused me to compare, to obsess, to envy, and simply get distracted or detached from the beautiful things around me. I have a love/hate relationship with it but in 2014 I would like to limit it enough so that it's only a love relationship and I don't let it negatively affect me!
4. Embrace my dorkiness. Yes, that's really one of my resolutions...a friend helped me think of it after a dorky conversation we had about how much we love vocabulary and words and stuff. :) But seriously, it's so easy for a shy girl like me to get embarrassed about things and to hide parts of my personality...especially in high school where there is so much pressure to be cool. Not that I'd get bullied for expressing my love for English or something but I still do feel the need to suppress my quirkier personality traits. But where's the fun in that? In 2014 as I finish high school and enter college, I want to show my true self to everyone I meet, because the people that want to be around me when I'm actually being me are the people who make life the best anyway!
Well I hope you all had a fabulous NYE and more importantly, an incredible 2014! Thank you for reading and again, thanks for you support. This blog has been one of my favorite parts of 2013!
Happy New Years!
"No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." Philippians 3:13, 14
"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9
“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." Isaiah 43:18, 19
Beautiful view from the airplane. I love how you can see the mountains, beach, and city all in one shot.
My sister and me in Cali
My cute parents ringing in the New Year!
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