Better-My Word For This Year

I can remember it like it was yesterday.  My dad and I cruising down a flat road somewhere in the delta with his left hand on the steering wheel of the most epic burnt orange, long-nosed Mercury Cougar you have ever seen.  His favorite place to be was on the road.  As we cruised down the road, we would talk.  Boy, would we talk!

I remember one time we were driving from Memphis, Tennessee to Austin, Texas.  I talked all the way from Memphis to Texarkana which by the way is a 6 hour drive.  When we arrived in Texarkana, I opened the car door and will never forget the wall of summer heat which took my breath away after the chilly frost of the air conditioned car.  I asked my dad if I was talking too much.  He laughed and said, “No, but you haven’t taken a breath since we left Memphis.”  I could see by his whiskered grin he loved every minute of it.

On one of these road trips, my dad asked me what my New Year’s resolution was.  I told him I wanted to be a better person.  He never forgot that.  It was inspirational to him, and he would mention it every new year.  He would ask me, “So, do you still want to be a better person this year?”  Every year, my answer would be the same.  Of course, I wanted to be a better person, but the truth was that for several years I had no goal or plan of how that was going to happen.  Nothing to achieve.  No goal to shoot for just the idea of being a better person.

I think a person should have goals.  I view life as a flower.  If I am not growing then I am dying.  So, this year I am using just one word.

• not waiting to read my Bible at night when I am too tired to absorb what I am reading.
• having a more focused prayer time and to be a more powerful prayer like Miss Clara in War Room.

• not pointing out all the specks in my husband, because I know he could turn and point at the logs in my own.
• encouraging him with my words as well as serving him better.