Happy New Year to you all !!!

Well, still time for one last blog entry in 2007! We were all invited to Joan Jones' for the evening, but as I'm down with the flu (aaargh!) I stayed at home in the quiet. In spite of paracetamol, I'm sitting in a room with no heating, in a T-shirt and I can feel the rivulets running down my back! So the plan was, I'd come upstairs at 9:30 feeling tired, wee, switch off the computer then get an early night..... But by the time I'd weed, I was wide awake again, so I've been catching up on my Facebook friends, looking for a couple of elusive pimpernels and watching clips of the Two Ronnies on YouTube. So I decided I may as well finish the year doing something useful: a quick blog, then scriptures before midnight.

So what about all this New Year lark then, eh? As a teenager, I used to take every opportunity I could find to set goals - I was ALWAYS aiming for something! Something very lofty usually, something I couldn't possibly ever achieve given all the resources in the world. But somehow, I never stopped to think whether or not my goals were ever possible; somehow, I was happy just to set them, as if writing down my secret inner dreams would make them all come true!

Unfortunately, this bad habit grew with me into adulthood, where it made friends with disappointment and disillusionment. For every goal I never reached, my self-esteem took another beating, until failed attempt after failed attempt, there was none left to beat.

I've learned now that goals are very different from dreams - I even wrote a course on it! Goals are steps we plan to take in order to make dreams come a little bit closer. Goals must really be steps, and not leaps - they must be gradual, they must challenge our best efforts but also allow for bad days, interruptions and setbacks. Whilst they are a tool that can be very useful, they must not become the central focus of our existence.

So what are my goals for 2008? (Hey it's an Olympic year, just thinking about it!) Probably not very inspiring to you. Probably not even enough to make you break into a sweat. But here are mine, for what they're worth:

1) Still have four chickens at the end of the year.

2) Have a Daddy-Daughter Date with each of my girls, every month.

3) Study the scriptures more than I did last year.

4) Spend more time talking to Linda.

5) Learn to do whatever I can, when I can, and to take it easy on myself when I just can't.

So there you go. Now, get back to your parties wherever they are, you've got Shloer to drink and Party Poppers to let off! I hope that your 2008 is every bit as fabulous as you hope it will be. Dream dreams, make plans, never lose sight of what you're doing it all for. God bless you in all that you do. May you be richer, wiser and more fulfilled by the end of 2008.

Happy New Year!!!!

x