Let's get ready to ruffllllllllllle!!!!!

We visited church tonight before the 4 because this weekend, we have REAL MAGI walking in our procession at each Mass, bringing gifts to place before the manger scene. We were on our way home from New Year's reveling and stopped in to take some pics for the parish blog and make sure everything went off okay.
I visited with a family I know who sits near the front, and the mother said to her son "do you want to tell her what your New Year's resolution is?" The little boy said "well, yeah. This year I'm going to be better."
"Oh," I said, "you mean, just better overall?" and he said "Yep!"
His mother prodded him for specifics, but I had to admit, the goal of being better is pretty good. I think I'll adopt it as my own resolution.
As for work, I can feel a resolution coming over me that I am a little nervous about, which is why I can tell it's what I should be doing. I think it's time we really revamped our volunteer ministry efforts, specifically by expanding and teaching our leaders to be inviting new people in. I think this is going to ruffle some long-standing ministry leaders' feathers, because they have grown content with doing everything themselves and remaining static. But I know things can't go on this way, and I know someone is going to have to ruffle some feathers to get things to change, and I know, g-dangit, that it's going to be me, that ruffler.
That is, if I'm not too busy being better.

A Year Still New...

One of our youth group-ers asked me the other night "how long into the new year is it acceptable to say 'Happy New Year' to people?" After some serious thought, I said that 5 days in was the limit. He told me he had wished someone in a store Happy New Year and she had seemed quite taken aback. But he confirmed that it was on the 7th, and therefore my 5 days answer was right on.
But here I am still mulling over the newness of the year- I can't let the resolution thing drop. I have started backing my car in to spots, a little (once) and I think I'm not all that good at it, so the resolution will be good for me, I think. I picked it because I have this vague worry that I have done something in my life for the very last time before I die, and have not known it. I know, seriously, what a crazy fear, huh? But I wonder if my Dad knew, that last time that he skied, that he'd NEVER do it again. It's why I want to try running sometime.
This year I did not publish my Top Ten Friends list. I have more than ten friends, and fortunately it was not hard to come up with a bunch to place on the list, but I realized in the process of it that I don't have a #1 this year. I have a clear #2, and following, but no #1. I don't consider this a sad thing, because my list and dinner schedules are otherwise full. But without a #1, does that mean I should, de-facto, promote my #2 to #1? I think my #2 would be a little weirded out by being told s/he is my #1. I just haven't decided how to proceed, so everyone will just have to try and survive one year without knowing how they rate in my life.
Today I found a blog article about choosing a WORD to focus on for the year, rather than a goal. Ooooooh!!! What a neat idea!!! I don't know what my word might be, but I'm intrigued. I think I'll ask God for a word and see what comes to me. Or maybe I'll field suggestions, that ought to be interesting...

Scratch that.

Well, I've blown through two or three New Year's Resolutions already. The first one was "Be nice." I haven't necessarily been MEAN, but I have been un-nice. The second day of my new way of life was a less nice day than I've had in a while. Ah well. No point in keeping on trying, right?
I think I'll take a break and put all my resolve into my Lenten promise. Lent is just around the corner.
But true to my form, I'm looking forward to a lot of great stuff in my future. In February we get back to LOST- did you hear that they rescheduled the State of the Union Address because it was scheduled for the first night of the new season of LOST?
And of course, I'm looking forward to Lent, and then to Easter, and then to the week after Easter when we will be heading to Vegas for the National Conference of Catechetical Leaders.
And by then, I'll probably be better in many ways, due to my wildly successful Lenten promises.