Living life into 2011

Happy 2011 everyone!!!  Once again it is a New Year and for a lot of us, that probably means New Year’s resolutions.  Recently a youth pastor friend of mine from Texas sent me an email of an article she had read recently (written by Rev. James Martin)  Included in it were 12 things he knew on his 50^th birthday he wished he had known at 25.  Reading them I thought I would include 10 of them as good things to do/know in the New Year.  They are as follows.

1. First up: Stop worrying so much! It's useless. (I.e. Jesus was right.)

2. Being a saint means being yourself. Stop trying to be someone else and just be your best self. It saves you heartache.

3. Remember three things and save yourself lots of unneeded heartache: You're not God. This ain't heaven. Don't act like a jerk

4. Within you is the idea of your best self. Act as if you were that person and you will become that person, with God's grace.

5. Don't worry too much about the worst that can happen. Even if it happens, God is with you, and you can handle it. Really.

6. You can't force people to approve of you, agree with you, be impressed with you, love you or even like you. Stop trying and just be the “you” God wants you to be.

7. When we compare, we are usually imagining someone else's life falsely. So our real-life loses out. (I.e. Compare and despair.)

8. Even when you finally realized the right thing, or the Christian thing, to do, it can still be hard to do. Do it anyway.

9. Seven things to say frequently: I love you. Thank you. Thank you, God. Forgive me. I'm so happy for you! Why not? Yes.

10. Peace and joy come after asking God to free you -- from anything that keeps you from being loving and compassionate.

What do you think?  Do you find any of these that could apply to you in the New Year?  I know there are some things that I could work on and apply to my life (nope, I’m not perfect either and I’ll be the first to admit that.)  So let’s work on some of these together and make 2011 a great year, with God at the center of every day
Prayers and blessings to you in this New Year
Brent