Fresh Serenity

 

I'm going to try to wash the bedsheets more often. That's my new years resolution.

Not that they really need it, it just occurred to me that other people wash them like, every month. All of them...every month. I must confess, I missed that rule when I set up our domestic situation 23 years ago. Are my kids just less dirty than others? I dunno. For some reason though, I feel like it has been a burden...this little secret of mine.  So, I am coming out of the linen closet and telling the world. I change all the bed sheets maybe 3 or 4 times a year. Please don't think less of me. Maybe it's because we don't eat in bed? I can't figure it out. I think I'll feel more...acceptable, if I up the ante this year. I'll let you know how my life changes in 2014, with this new, nocturnally pristine me.

I also chose this resolution because it's doable. This is something I can put my everything into and tackle with great determination. I may need someone to remind me though. I have a very short attention span, so unless coffee gets spilled on the bed or something, it could get overlooked again. There are just some things in life that unintentionally slip down the priority list. Finding things to improve your life, then unsuccessfully pursuing them is disappointing to say the least. Even being the optimist that I am, I have come to realize that the slogan "you can do anything if you just set your mind to it" is bologna.  Life has limits, our resources are rationed and roadblocks are immoveable sometimes. People get sick, lose things and are often compelled to live a life they might never have chosen. So...true resolve and character identifies what can be changed and sets the mind on those things...forgetting previous dreams.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

 Wow. That's what I'm going for. To be able to pray this sincerely.

Even if the furniture and bed sheets are the only things I can change at the moment, then I shall change them. What happens in this new year is out of my control, but how I ride the wave is up to me. God is always good, He loves me perfectly and eternally. Trust. Obey. Peace.

To be strong and humble enough to stop chasing the ideal life and accept what is given. To find my joy in Him alone is my goal for today, tomorrow and this year. And to change the bed sheets more often.


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