Our Year

Every year about this time I say to my best friend, "I think this is going to be our year!" To which she usually replies, "You say that every year."  And she's right.  I do say that every year and I am not entirely sure what "our year" means exactly.  I have shared numerous times on here about my dreams and desires.  Maybe this is the year I am going to stick with my diet and exercise and not dread bathing suit season.  Maybe this is the year I will save enough money in my bank account that I won't worry about what would happen in an emergency or disaster.  Or perhaps this is the year that Prince Charming with sweep me off my feet and we will ride off into the sunset.  Who knows? 

In just a few days, the ball in New York will once again drop at the stroke of midnight, Auld Lang Syne will begin to play, and 2011 will have arrived.  We will all turn to one another and embrace with a hug, a kiss, or clanking of our champagne glasses.  And for the next day millions of Americans will begin the formulation of our New Year's Resolutions. 

Now I've read the data, you've read the articles, and we've all failed at them, and yet we all make New Year's resolutions of some sort.  Losing weight, saving money, cutting up credit cards, quitting smoking, drinking less, working out, finding love...we all make them.  And some scoff at the idea because they know what the result is going to be.  So why do we put ourselves through the agony of setting ourselves up to fail?

I think that reason is Hope.  I think I tell my best friend that this year is "our year" each year because each year I have hope that this year is going to be better than the last year.  I think we make these resolutions because we all have hope that we are going to be better people.  And I think that's not a bad thing at all.  Yes, we may fail, but will we be a little better off?  I would rather live with the hope of becoming a better me than accepting my life as it is now and never changing those things that need changing.  

Actor Josh Hartnett said, "Hope is the most exciting thing in life and if you honestly believe that love is out there, it will come. And even if it doesn't come straight away there is still that chance all through your life that it will.”    You might not be hoping for love, but maybe you are hoping for that new job or the strength to kick a bad habit.  We know all too well that God's timing is not our timing, but we can continue to have hope in the storms that something good is on the horizon.  We can have hope that eventually God will answer our prayers at the most perfect time.  In a world full of heartache and struggle, I think it's time to embrace the hope the lives within each of us.

So this year as all of you sit down to begin writing your resolutions, do not be afraid.  Embrace the hope that this year is going to be YOUR YEAR!  This is the year you are going to make a change!  You might fail, you might stumble, but you can hold on to the hope that tomorrow is going to be a better day!  Albert Einstein said it best, " Learn from yesterday, Live for today, and Hope for tomorrow!"