New Year's Resolutions

I’m reading Letters to Olga by Václav Havel. In 1979, during the Communist era, the playwright Havel was sentenced to four and a half years of hard labor for his involvement in the Czech human rights movement. In prison he was allowed to write one letter a week to his wife, Olga. She kept the letters and later they were published. He wrote on topics ranging from the philosophical to the mundane. On December 21, 1980 he wrote this:

“The more I think about it, the more I incline to the opinion that the most important thing of all is not to lose hope and faith in life itself. Anyone who does so is lost, regardless of what good fortune may befall him. On the other hand, those who do not lose it can never come to a bad end. This doesn’t mean closing one’s eyes to the horrors of the world—quite the contrary, in fact: only those who have not lost faith and hope can see the horrors of the world with genuine clarity...And so, from the bottom of my heart, my New Year’s wish is that you not lose your hope, faith and ability to delight in the world—even if the world is the way it is.”

Havel’s words speak to me. So that is my wish this year: to fan the flame of hope and faith, both in my own heart and in the hearts of those I know and love.

Oh, New Year’s Resolutions. Every year I have high hopes, ridiculous expectations and fits of good intentions. I start craving order in every area of my life. My mind starts racing; every year I vow this one will be different.

I do usually start well. I clean off my desk, clean out my purse, and put everything in it that belongs there. I write on my new calendars in different colors. And on and on it goes.

Thing is, I do have administrative brains. I can organize things so purty. What I lack, quite often, is follow through.

This year is no different. I have my desk mostly cleaned off, all rubbish has been cleaned out of purses and coat pockets. I’ve written on my calendars and worked on downloading my google calendars into Outlook.

So here goes. I am not going to say New Years Resolution (read that in a stage whisper), but here are 10 goals I hope I to meet in 2008.

I hope to:

1. Develop and maintain more meaningful and healthy spiritual rhythms in my life.
2. Be a better wife and Mom.
3. Start exercising again, 3 times per week.
4. Be more disciplined about staying on top of our finances.
5. Write to (or get the kids to) our Compassion child once a month.
6. Stay in better touch with family and friends.
7. Be more efficient in managing my time and resources.
8. Do a better job keeping our home.
9. Re-establish monthly dates with our kids.
10. Write something every day, even if it’s short.