Gratitude Jar

Happy New Year! I hope your New Year is off to a great start.  Did you start 2015 with tradition, or begin something new?  My neighbors have a tradition every New Year’s Day to go hiking in the Gorge (which in the Northwest is quite cold!) and it got me thinking about New Year’s traditions that I have, or ones I would like to start with my young family.  The only thing that really came to mind was New Year’s Resolutions.  Normally, each New Year’s Eve, I sit on the couch and contemplate what I want to accomplish in the coming year.  When I was younger, I made 10 lofty goals, but as the years became me, I started to be more intentional about what I wanted to change in my life, and thought beyond that year, to five or ten years down the road.  These contemplations then morphed to a series of 5 resolutions, and the past 5 years or so they have usually revolved around God, my health (as in exercise of come kind), and some career/hobby goal I wanted to accomplish.

However, as I was making breakfast for my kids this morning, I realized that I forgot to write down my New Year’s Resolutions. And this very task-oriented, tradition-held me felt a surge of guilt at not only forgetting, but feeling slightly relieved that I didn’t create one.  As I was reflecting on my previous lists and what I wrote, I  feel like something is missing, as if I’m not getting the whole picture.  Do you ever feel that way? Are your resolutions the same every year, or do they change a bit/change drastically?

This day, one year ago, I created a Gratitude Jar for myself and a few friends.  My hope was to write down on a sheet of paper something I am thankful or grateful for–and do this throughout the year.  The idea was on New Year’s Eve to look through the jar and realize just how blessed we have been throughout the year.  Unfortunately, after January, like many resolutions, I forgot about it, and only noticed it this afternoon sitting on my desk in the office.  Maybe it shouldn’t be on the corner of my desk, but out where I see it every day.  So, this is my only New Year’s Resolution in 2015.  To write down and chronicle the blessings that occur this year, because there will inevitably be many of them, as there are each and every year, and come December 31st, to look back at all God has blessed me, and my family and friends, with.

I wish you a very wonderful and blessed 2015. And if you have any great New Year traditions, I’d love to hear about it! xoxo