Getting Down to it!

We are down to it Friends. This year will soon turn over to next year. What will you be doing on New Year's Eve? Going to a party? Hosting a party? Staying home to watch the ball drop in NYC on tv?

As for my husband and I, we will be staying home and watching the ball drop, if we can stay awake that long! LOL. We have never done the party thing. Well, I can't say that. We did the first year we were married. And I did not enjoy it at all. I do not drink and even after the years that he did, he did not and does not want to be out on the roads that night. It is one holiday, that we prefer to be at home and do not miss it all that much.

Even so, It will start off a new year. So today, I thought I would give you a few ideas that you might consider for 2019

A couple of days ago, I ran across an idea that I think would be a very nice thing to do. It is called a 'Happiness Jar." Or to my way of thinking, a 'Blessing Jar.'

In a jar, write down at least one thing that happened every day for the year. It could be an answered prayer, something made you laugh unexpectedly, something that you felt God was telling you that day, something about your kids-perhaps school related, a goal or a project that you accomplished...the list goes on and on. Write down those things every day, and put them in the jar. As you do, you will see the jar fill up and know that there are good things happening in your life. And then on December 31st, read back about those things and see just many there were.

Because sometimes we do miss the blessings in our lives simply because our lives are so busy with kids, jobs, other responsibilities that we have. And this jar can be a reminder of the blessings that come our way but maybe gets pushed aside by the times that are sad or just being so busy. Also, by the end of the year, we often ask ourselves, "Where did this year go? It seemed to go by so fast." The jar would remind us where it went despite the things that were not so great about it.

This second idea model the first, in creating a 'Prayer Jar.' And in this jar would be prayers that you would ask God to work on in your life. Again starting January 1st and reading them on December 31.

Maybe you will even want to get the kids on board by letting them help you with your jars, or starting one of their own. Kids go through many things growing up. Both good and well...not so good. Perhaps they are being bullied or having trouble in a subject. This would be a great thing to have them involved in so that at the end of the year, maybe they are reminded of how God worked in their own situations.

I think these two suggestions are wonderful ideas for getting the New Year off to a great start and then reading about them at the end of the year. Especially those acknowledging what God has done for us and the blessings that have come our way no matter how large or small. Maybe you will too.

The clock is ticking down for the New Year to start. How blessed we are as a nation that in a lot of respects have God in it. As families, we must keep Him in our lives so that He does not disappear altogether like some want. There are so many ideas that can help with that and I hope that even in your busy life, you don't forget to teach important biblical principles to your children. For when we get too busy, or forget, or just plain don't care then that is what begins the breakdown in our families begins to filter out into society, as it has in the past and still continues to this day.

Teach these words to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking, and when you lie down to sleep and when you wake. Deuteronomy 11:19

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. The people He has chosen for His inheritance. Psalm 33;12

Thanks for coming by today Friends. Enjoy these last few days of this year, for they are slipping away! And in the meantime, God bless you and your family and friends.