8th day of Christmas

What? How can it be the 8th day of Christmas if it's New Year's Day? Haven't we moved on? Aren't we busy making resolutions that will last about as long as it takes us to write them down? According to several online news sources the following are the most popular resolutions made by Americans:

1) Spend more time with family

(and with the high level of unemployment this is becoming much easier to do)

2) Exercise

       3) Lose Weight

        4) Quit Smoking

5) Enjoy life more (which if you did #2,#3,#4, & #6, could actually happen,

unless of course your only enjoyment in life comes from #2, #3, #4 & #6.)

      6) Quit Drinking

        7) Get out of debt

                   8) Learn something new

 9) Help others

   10) Get organized

Over the years I've made almost all of those & broken every one of them. They are all great things to do and I would not discourage anyone from attempting any of them. It's the hope of being human that we want to make changes both in and for ourselves. So no matter where I'm at with any of these desires for change, I want to delight in the realization that God is in all aspects of life. And here is the good news - this has been gifted to us through the love and light of a child born to Mary, who on this 8th day of Christmas is given the holy name of Jesus - Savior.

And this is my resolution for 2010. To live each day in that love - by becoming more present to the good and the bad, the light and the darkness, the joys and the sorrows, the extraordinary and the mundane moments - remembering that God is "with me" in all of it. May you know that God will be "with you" in all the moments of this coming year.