Like so many others, I look at the new year as a time for new beginnings. I don’t usually make a formal list of resolutions but I do like to define areas for improvement, set goals and work on forming good habits and breaking the bad ones.

I did firmly resolve to form one new habit last year and by God’s grace I have succeeded: I have read my Bible each day before checking my email or getting on the Internet. The better you know me, the more you will understand what a triumph this was. I don’t say this to brag, but rather to encourage. I am deeply ashamed that it took me nearly 35 years to form a habit reading God’s Word daily, but I am equally thankful that He has finally given me a daily hunger for His Word!

This year, we have much room for improvement in our household and in our own personal lives.

I want to work toward better organization in our home, one small area at a time.

At hubby’s encouragement, we will start with our food storage. One of our cabinets was very well organized for a short while, with labels at the front edge of the shelves for each row of canned goods: one row, running from front to back, for each category. We had spaghetti sauce, cream soups, corn, beans (covering a variety of legumes), green beans, tomato (covering a variety), and perhaps a couple more categories that I’ve forgotten but I’m too lazy to go look at the labels. It was a simple and beautiful system while it was in use, but when the little ones started to help putting away canned goods after shopping trips it all fell by the way. I want it to come back, today, and I want to teach the younger ones to maintain it as well. This I resolve.

Then we will organize our containers/mixing bowls/misc. cupboard.

Then the tall pantry cupboard and the cabinet over the coffee maker.

Week by week, month by month, and area by area I want to work this year toward a more organized home, training the younger ones to prevent messes and help us keep it up rather than working against each other and wasting all our time cleaning up each other’s messes after the fact.

I want to read more to the younger children, helping them to develop a love of books to rival the literary obsessions of their older sisters.

I want to develop a habit of formal prayer. I pray silently throughout the day, small short pleas to God, but I want my children to see me pray the way they now see me read God’s Word. I don’t want this so that they will think I’m holy, but so that I can lead by example and they will follow that example – the way they have in Bible reading. This certainly isn’t the only reason for prayer, but as a mother the spiritual well-being of my children weighs upon me and this is one way that I know I can positively impact them.

I want to speak more sweetly and gently to my children, especially when I correct them. Their voices are so often harsh and contentious to one another, and I know that this didn’t develop in a vacuum. I also know that the problem won’t go away overnight, even if I manage to correct my own tones overnight. We’ll need patience, persistence, and prayer.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but these are few of my goals for the upcoming year.