2015. Another new year. I wonder what it will hold? I have been alive long enough to look at a new year with both excitement and trepidation. Because while a new year always holds new possibilities, it does not follow that all those possibilities will be fun. Or profitable. Or exciting. Some years are just harder than others, and that is the truth.

I really don't have that much control over many of the variables of my year, but I can control my approach to the year- whatever it holds.

I am a sucker for New Year's resolutions and goal setting sessions. I read blogs on methods for effective goal setting. I especially liked Tim Elmore's post this year. I spent a wonderful hour or two at Panera's thinking through and writing down my goals and plans. The only problem to the long-term success of this method is that I have never had a very good memory. And now that I am over 50 whatever smidgen of memory I used to have has decreased exponentially. So after the hours I ponder and the pages I write I usually forget everything I recorded. But at least my goals look lovely on paper.

I needed another approach. I needed something easy. Something memorable. Something my 50+ year old brain could hold on to.

So I came up with the "A" list for 2015. Maybe if I have everything begin with an "A" I can remember them long enough to hold myself accountable.

Here is my "A" List for 2015:

1. Attitude: Gratefulness
2. Activity: Compliments
3. Action: Write

I feel like a pastor coming up with a three point sermon that all have the same letter! But the reason pastors do that is to make it easier to remember, and hopefully this device will work for me.

 

Attitude: Gratefulness

How would it change my day if the glasses I looked through were fitted with lenses of gratefulness? What if I was grateful for EVERYTHING, not just the things I like or the things that seem "good," but for EVERYTHING? What if I was grateful for what other people had and that they have it, even if it is better than what I have?

What if I trusted God enough to actually believe that I have exactly the right items, people, opportunities, and trials in my life?

I want my eyes to be open and my heart to be aware of the abundance of gifts, joys, and blessings that surround me.

So the attitude goal of 2015 is GRATEFULNESS!

 

Activity: Compliments

How would it change my relationships if I look for opportunities to give a compliment instead of using my words to try and fix a problem?   What if I limited my words of correction to really important issues and instead used the majority of my words to speak life, praise, and appreciation into my family's life? What would happen to my heart as I actively looked for the good in people so I could purposefully find things to compliment?

What if I trusted God and His ability to change people's lives? What if I trusted Him enough to let Him be the fixer and I took the role of lover? What if I let the Holy Spirit do His job and just concentrated on my job?

I want my mind and my mouth to comprehend and speak of the good, noble, lovely, excellent, worthy of praise aspects in my loved ones lives.

So the activity goal of 2015 is COMPLIMENTS.

 

Action: Writing

How would it change my productivity if instead of thinking about what I want to write I actually wrote? What if I turned my slow moments into moments of recording what is on my heart? What if I decided what to do and what not to do based upon how it would free me up to ACT on my call to write?

What if I trusted God with my words and their results? What if I was brave enough and transparent enough to write truth? What if I gave up momentary pleasures or distractions to buy myself time to write?

I want my words to build the Kingdom of God.

So the action goal of 2015 is WRITING.

 

There is my "A" list- to be a grateful, compliment speaking, writer. I think that even my brain can remember that.

Now I just need to go and do it.