Each day is my new beginning

We are quickly approaching the new year and I grimace. I don’t like the questions regarding New Year’s resolutions.
I am not one to make New Year’s resolutions. I tend to believe each day is another day to resolve to make myself better…not just that one day of the year that marks the new year’s beginning.
Because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I believe in making today a better day.
I resolve each morning to show more compassion toward others, be more patient with my family and do what is right when confronted with decisions placed before me.
I don’t make grandiose resolutions to lose weight or anything of that nature because I believe in changing myself from the inside out.
I don’t believe in making what I think of as empty promises, either. If I promise something, I believe in doing my best to keep that promise no matter how I feel about it when the time comes to do so.
I am not saying I am some saint. Lord knows I can only try to be a better person. I can pray for help. But, in the end, I know I can’t be a better person each and every day because I am human. I make mistakes. I get cranky. I become impatient. I have bad days.
But, I can try. I can hope.
That is what New Year’s Day means to me. It means we can hope. We can hope to have a better year than the last. We can hope that those around us are touched with our love, kindness and good will. We can hope that God will help us to become who He wants us to be.
Ultimately, we don’t know what circumstances will come our way with each new year. We only hope that those circumstances will be happy ones and we will be made stronger for experiencing the not-so-happy circumstances.
The same can be said of each new day. So, I suggest we resolve to make the best of each day given to us…not just each year.

Word of the Day: Joy

Joy – There are many ways one can express it. There are many ways one might feel it.

Today, joy seems to be the theme. I wrote an opinion column for tomorrow’s Daily Sun News about joy being an attitude. Don’t know if the editor will keep my title. But, I do believe one can become filled with joy on a dark day.

The Bible has many verses about Joy.
The young women will dance for joy, and the men-old and young-will join in the celebration.
I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing. – Jer. 31:13

God wishes for us to turn to Him so he might turn even the darkest moments into joy. It is our choice to be comforted by Him. It is our choice to change our circumstances.

L’Allegro by John Milton
Hence, loathed Melancholy
Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born
In Stygian cave forlorn,
‘Mongst horrid shapes and shrieks and sights unholy!
Find out some uncouth cell,
Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings
And the night-raven sings;
There under ebon shades and low-browed rocks,
As ragged as thy locks,
In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.

This sonnet has 152 lines about overcoming Satan and Hades with Allegro (Joy). Unfortunately, because the sonnet is about Orpheus’ love for Eurydice and the joy she brought him, Orpheus went as far as to go to Hades in search of her when she died. It is a sonnet, which I intend to study more deeply.

My daughter brought me some Lily of the Valley from my flower beds. She called them her “Joy Flowers.” She said they bring her much happiness. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all find joy as easily?

The above picture illustrates a child's joy. I took the photo yesterday for today's issue of the Daily Sun News.

So It's Been a Long Day

Today I had seven stories due by 10:30 a.m. and when I generally arrive at the office around 8:15 after picking up a police report, seven can be a lot. Thought I was doing good by typing three at home last night. Wrong! My morning was thrown off by three shootings that occurred during the weekend. I had to make three different calls to the PD. After turning in my last story at 10:45, thought the day HAD to get better. NOPE! Lord, help me but I had two night meetings tonight after typing up three stories for tomorrow's edition. May not seem like a lot. But, when you don't have lunch, one can get weary. Spent two and a half hours listening to our local school board and city council members discuss gang activity and school related issues. I AM tired. But, the mind is busy.
How many ways did the Lord bless me? That is my current question. Well, I was enabled to meet some people today whom I had spoken to via phone for years and/or months. I am probably the most informed parent who is not a board member or city council member in my community. And, my oldest son was able to sit with me through the regular school board meeting as I wore my hand out writing notes. :) There is something to be said in even the most tiresome of moments. We tend to take the little blessings and disregard them. What we should do is cherish them no matter how insignificant they may seem to the average person because we ARE NOT average. We are blessed children of God, chosen by Christ and loved so deeply that we will never really ever be able to grasp it.