I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions.

I believe that if you want to make a change in your life, that there shouldn't be a time designated in which to make it. Particularly because you inevitably set yourself up to fail. It's like when I was in middle school and a teacher would give me books to read, and I would never read them. Not because I didn't love to read (and still do), but because someone was making me do it. So, I'm making today, November 30, my day of resolutions.

-I want to love my God more. I'm not saying I don't love him now, but there are things in my life that I show way more love to on a daily basis than I show Him. I want to be hungry for knowledge of Him, talk with Him more, and talk ABOUT Him more. Spread the love of Christ with the people I know and the people I don't.

-Give. The first things that come to mind when you talk about giving is time and money. Being 23 with two jobs means that I don't have a lot of either of those things, but what I do have, I want to give with my whole heart.

-Love. And by that I mean love people that I wouldn't normally try to love. We all have those people in our lives that we just don't understand and may not even like. But we still need to treat them with the respect that they deserve.

There are more things I could put down, and probably will as the ideas come to me. But the point of all of this is to say that it doesn't have to be January 1 for you to start making changes in your life. Start now.

Picture Frames

I have been so blessed in my life to have some really great people come and go. I could spout out a bunch of names of people that have meant a lot to me over the years. Some of those people I thought would be in my life forever but have eventually faded from my life, for numerous reasons.

I think about these people tonight as I traded out the pictures in my picture frames. Yes, I'm one of the few people who actually still goes to those picture kiosk at CVS to get a limited number of photos printed for frames, memory boards, etc. As I was switching out these photos, there were a lot of repeats: the same people in the same pose, just in a different place and time. But there were also a few that, as I was replacing them, left me thinking, "What happened?"

As corny as it sounds, it makes me realize how valuable friendship is. While I'll inevitably replace some of these new photos, there are just some photos that will never be replaced for me.

The Pilot

Wow. Blogging. First of all, let me say that I never thought I would be doing this. Blogging is something I'm active in reading, but not active in participating. But my beautiful friend Courtney started one up and got me thinking about all the things I think about on a day to day basis that might be useful for other people. Well, I'm going to do my best to talk about those things rather than the things that are completely useless that also run through my head on a daily basis.

Last night, I got "shrinked." A friend of mine was hosting a group therapy session for her doctorate program, and I volunteered to be a part of it. It was to focus mainly on the part of life considered to be the "quarter life crisis." Yes, the thing that John Mayer sings about in "Why Georgia." While I knew everyone pretty well in the group, it was interesting to see that I wasn't the only one feeling the way I do about my job(s) and my personal life. It seems that the "quarter life crisis" is almost...dare I say...normal to be feeling. It's this sense of not knowing where you are now in your life, and also not knowing where to go from here, all the while trying to stay out of debt, maintain a spiritual life, grow within our professions, keep relationships afloat, romantic or otherwise, and just enjoy life as a 20-something.

Maybe I was just selfish enough to think I was the only 23 year old going through this type thing, but it's slightly refreshing knowing I'm not the only one going through this. The real trick for me is figuring out HOW TO MAKE IT ALL WORK. Time is not my friend. That's why it's taken me all day to write this, starting at 10 and just now getting close to finishing at 4:45.

So, right now, I'm going to simply leave you with a scripture that I always seem to go back to when I get antsy and nervous about what life has to offer me. And I promise to have more cohesive thoughts next time.

"The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young..." -Lamentations 3:25-27