Thursday, December 31, 2009

Mama On: New Year's Resolutions

"In all things, give thanks."

Okay, this one is not original Mamaknology. It is from 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and it absolutely describes how I am feeling right here at the beginning of a new year, and a new decade. This is not the year that I will make new resolutions -- not that some of mine have not worked in the past. Rather, this is the year that I will simply be thankful to hold onto and build upon an old one.

We all know that we do what we do, we are who we are, and no matter what we resolve to change, if we are so blessed as to wake up on tomorrow, we will have one more chance to do it better. So, I'm going to give thanks for both today and tomorrow. And I don't know if that is a resolution or an acceptance of an Almighty force outside myself, but I am giving thanks.

My mother, the original Mamaknologist used to make it her business to get me into somebody's Sunday School every Sunday -- until I got old enough to say I didn't want to go. And of course, after that, I used to get the weekly, "if you could hang out and party, then you can get to church," lecture. And somehow, in all her efforts, I learned something.

I learned gratitude, and now I have learned to be grateful for every day I live to see. I have learned to be grateful for my health. I have learned tobe grateful for the friends who have become the anchors to my life. I have learned to be grateful for the job I don't always want to go to. I have learned to be grateful for literacy. I have learned to be grateful for my right to vote. I have learned to be grateful for so many things that this list should be darned near endless.

But most of all, I am grateful that I can hold onto this old resolution and that in all things I can be grateful.