Grow

No New Year's Resolutions. Only New Year's . . . Thoughts. In my head I know things that need to be changed, things I need to work on, things I need to learn, things I need to keep doing. I haven't written them down, and I don't know if it would help or hinder. Probably help since I love lists.

Yes, this is February, but it's still the beginning of the year. I can still be thinking about the year ahead and what I want from it.

Grow. or Learn.
Those are the words I picked for my year. I've never picked a word before, and these mean the same thing to me right now and are just what I need.

I need to grow/learn in my organizational skills. Which are at zero.

I need to grow/learn in my homemaking skills. Or, to put it another way, my making our house a home skills.

I need to grow/learn in my "Do not be a packrat" skills.

I need to grow/learn in my wifely/mothering skills. I need to learn to be present and take joy in those things.

These aren't resolutions, just sort of vague, and yet solid, things that I want to grow in and learn to be better at. I THINK I've been doing a little better. I've organized, gone through stuff, gotten rid of stuff, and cleaned. (Those things could also be attributed to nesting.)

So, what are your resolutions or words for 2014?

Robots are People Too

I haven't posted for eons, but decided a new year is a good time to change that. So here goes.

A while back, in church, someone said something about going through a hard time, and it got me thinking. I have a tendency to believe the world stops if I'm not around. No one feels anything, does anything, thinks anything. Only me. Everyone else is a robot, on auto pilot until they are with me, then things can happen to them.

It's selfish, I know. I guess I live in my own little world and expect others to notice things about me before I notice things about them. I don't try it. It just happens. I want to change. I just don't know how. I don't remember. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. I think that maybe they just want to be left alone (I do . . . . sometimes).

The truth is, I'm scared. I'm lazy. I'm selfish.

A while back, I was also reading some passages in the Bible that talk about the Church. The Saints. Those united by their common faith in God. We do have responsibilities to each other (even if we sometimes think or act like we can just do our own thing).

One of the main things we are commanded to do for others is . . . PRAY.

Yes, I suppose I can pray for others without knowing anything about them. Lots of people do it. But it is hard. I don't know what I'm praying for, so it generally ends up being something like "Lord, bless ________ and whatever they are dealing with. Amen"

Maybe that is fine, and I know that God knows and understands, but I have a hard time caring about people then. I think it probably goes both ways, because when I don't share, I don't feel cared for.

I'm not really making New Year's Resolutions. I have in my head things that I want to improve on though. One of them is caring for others. I don't know how though. So my question is, what do you do to care for others? What makes you feel cared for? What do you do for people? What do you want done for you?

And by the way,

Happy 2014!!

O, and the title of this post makes me think "Exterminate." But if you've never watched Dr. Who, you won't get it.