I’m not a big “New Year’s Resolutions” kind of person. When I read about people who think them through, write them down, journal their plans and progress…and then celebrate their changes… I often wish I was.

Perhaps I don’t typically do resolutions because I’m like many who have made resolutions in the past, but they never really happened. Good intentions faded as the new year grew.

Well, tonight as I took a brisk walk around the neighborhood, I was walking, thinking, and praying ( a common combination for me). I decided to break from my safe, resolution-free New Year, and make some resolutions for 2016. Not surprisingly, I almost made the wrong resolutions!

This might be expected, since I’ve already admitted to not being a good “Resolver” anyway. Here is the prayer I said, that helped me realize I was starting my resolutions off wrong:

Lord, If I could change anything about me this year I would want it to  be…( I paused, and realized that was the WRONG way to pray about it…so I changed it.)

Lord, If YOU could change anything about me this year I would want it to be…(I paused, and realized I STILL didn’t get the “Resolutions prayer” right…so I changed it again.)

Lord, If YOU could change anything about me this year, what would YOU want it to be? (I paused once more and realized at least I got the prayer right…I further realized how backwards my earlier prayers were, and thought “No wonder I often struggle with resolutions!”)

Now…I prayerfully wait, and pray some more, for clarity on what God would want me to resolve for Him to do in and through me. Getting us both “on the same page” of my life, with His plan is probably the right starting point for a new year.

I pray readers of this blog are WAY ahead of me, and skipped the first two versions of my prayer. Happy new year!