Every year about this time I spend WAY too much time reflecting on the previous year. I do it consistently the days before New Years trying to decide what my resolutions might be. This should be a tradition I need to avoid, nevertheless, as I look back on the year I tend to focus only on the negative things I might want to try rid myself of the next year. All the times I failed to be there for a friend, or the times I lacked in guiding my child, or the times I got frustrated and wanted to just throw in the towel. This is really not how I want to spend the last days of a truly for the most part wonderful year.
Grace and Mercy. This is the concept (resolution) I’ll focus on next year. Cut a person some slack. We all fall short miserably of the standards we set for ourselves and especially the ones we set for others. I think people spend too much time beating themselves up for not being perfect. This is a terrible dilemma running rampant. A few ideas running through my mind:
On being a mom- I’m not the best mom in the world nor am I the worst. I am who I am and love tremendously. I would die for each and every one of them without a thought.
On being a friend- I’m not the best friend you could ever have nor could I (hopefully not) be the worst. I try hard to be the friend you need and want every day. I love all my friends tremendously and would die for each and every one of them without a thought.
On being a wife- I do the best I can with all I have. Excluding my female neurosis and crazy days, I want to be the best thing that ever happened to you. I love with every inch of the heart God gave me and would die for you in an instant.
Grace and mercy allows us to be who we are and love regardless. I imagine how Jesus felt as he was lead to the cross. We were terrible friends and so imperfect and trying. Yet, his love was so deep for us he was willing to die anyway. We don’t have to be perfect (because we will never get there) or try to have others see us as perfect. We just have to be ourselves and accept others for who they are.
