Before you is a fresh, clean, blank page in a new book.  What will you write upon these pages as we usher in 2015?

Will you fill the first part with resolutions?  Ones that you may or may not keep?  Or will you just do the best that you can each and every day?  Be reasonable in your New Year Resolutions, if you make them.  Don’t set out to do something grand right away.  Take baby steps toward what you wish to accomplish this year.  You can do anything you set your mind to!

Are you striving to get fit, eat right, or save more money?

Start off slowly with an exercise program, even if you just walk in your home to Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away The Pounds.  Or, if walking indoors isn’t your thing, change the scenery and walk around the perimeter of your property for 30 minutes every day.

Likewise if you’re trying to change your diet so that you are eating right. Don’t go cold turkey on every thing that you love right away.  You may not be able to stick with it if you do.  Just try cutting back on your portions at meal time.  Also, instead of reaching for those potato chips and ice cream, try reaching for a piece of fruit instead.  One thing that my teenage daughter has started doing recently is making us all smoothies.  She doesn’t use packets that have a high amount of sugar in them.  Instead, she mixes bananas, strawberries, and blueberries in with either milk or yogurt with a little bit of honey.  Surprisingly, it is GOOD!  We all enjoy her smoothies.  They are easy to make and are healthy!

If it’s money you wish to save, try cutting out any unnecessary spending.  My family and I used to buy lunch every work day – that added up to be a good bit of money when you consider two children and two adults four to five days a week spending money on buying lunches.  What we have been doing for a while now is packing our lunches from home.  If we have a big meal the night before and there are leftovers, we carry those to lunch with us.  There are times we make salads at home or fix sandwiches to take with us.  We try to throw in healthy items to snack on like Greek yogurts and fruit, too.  Just mix it up a little and give yourself a variety each day, and soon you won’t miss going out to lunch like you did before.  You will get used to eating food you brought from home, and you’ll have extra money to do something fun on the weekend, if you’d like.  Or, toss the money that you’d normally spend on lunches in the bank and watch it grow!

Do your goals go deeper than that with being more loving toward your family, practicing having more patience and offering more grace?  Are you focused on spending more quality time with your loved ones doing things that you love, enjoying hobbies and interests together?   Make the time!  There are memories to be made with your family!  You will be leaving a wonderful legacy for your children, your wife, your husband, your parents – any loved one that you take time with – to reflect back on.  It is worth it to stop working so hard for a little while and focus your attention on having fun!  There is a lot to be said about the fun factor.  If all you do is work, work, work, all the time, you will not be the best that you can be because you do need to take time to slow down, rest, rejuvenate, and ENJOY life!

For our family, we absolutely love going trail riding with our horses.  If the weather is nice, you’ll find us on the trails!  We have never been more concerned with the weather in all of our lives, until we bought horses this year.  Now, we stalk the weather looking to plan days to just do nothing more than load up the trailer and head out to a gorgeous spot to ride our horses all … day … long!

What makes it even better is that this is something my husband and I can do together, as we both share this passion.  AND, our daughters enjoy it, too, so it is something we can do together as a family.  We take lots of pictures when we’re out on the trails with our horses because we want to not only have these times carved in our memory but also documented with pictures of our time spent together.  Trust me, it will make a difference if you slow down a little in 2015 and make the time for some fun with your family!

Are you looking to have a closer walk with God in the new year?  You can!  If that has been on your mind, you can start right now – today!   If you haven’t been one to really pray in the past, you can make a change right this minute and begin whispering things from your lips straight to God’s ears.  Maybe you aren’t sure what the proper way to pray is, but here’s good news.  God doesn’t care if you pray perfectly or word things “just” right.  He only cares that you come to Him.  Talk to him just like you would a close friend.  Although he already knows what is going on in your life, He likes you to bring these things to Him that may be troubling you.  We cannot figure things out on our own.  We try, but we fail miserably.  God is the only one that can make things better in your life.  Yes, you can change your attitude, and that will help tremendously.  You can also focus more on the positives around you instead of the negatives, and that will improve your mood as well.  But, when troubles threaten to steal your joy and your inner peace, instead of running to your friend to talk about all of your troubles, try taking them to God first and see what happens.  While your friends can listen and offer a sympathetic ear, God can reach His mighty hand right in the mist of the storm and calm it in an instant, if that is His will.  Some times we go through things in life and aren’t sure why life has to be so hard.  It is in those instances that we are being molded and shaped into better people.  That is where growth occurs within us.  At all times, though, cling to God.  Through the good, the bad, and the ugly – God is right there within reach.  Take a hold of His hand.  There is so much peace in knowing that God cares for us, loves us, and wants the best for us.  His ways are not our ways, and we will never understand why certain things happen in our lives.  Just knowing that God has great plans for our future comforts me.  When I’m not sure what will happen next, I don’t have to fret and worry over it because God’s got this!  He always has and He always will.  Our job is to take our cares and worries to Him.  Cast them all on Him and rest in the comfort that He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us.  For me, some times all I need to do to feel immediate peace is whisper the name of Jesus.

Would you like to learn more about the bible this year?  You can begin a yearly reading guide so that you read the bible the entire way through in a year.  If that is too much to take on, just try daily devotionals that speak to your heart and incorporate scriptures as well as a prayer starter at the end.  It will make a difference in your life and your outlook if you dig into God’s word.  Whether you spend five minutes or five hours reading scriptures, your outlook will improve as you tuck God’s word away in your heart.

Whatever your goals are this year, you have a blank page beginning today.  Write your story, and make it a good one!  Focus on your happily ever after – it’s not just a fairy tale.  It could very well be your life.  Give it your all!  Make those memories!

Here’s wishing you and your family all the best for 2015!

~*~*~HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!~*~*~