premature resolutions

this post should be saved for the final week of december, when christmas is over and there is a lull in between the 25th and the 31st. the new year is about to begin and all you hear from the optimist in your life is "this next year will be full of provision...its gonna be a gooooood year!" ( yeehaw i saw in my mind sarcastically). i hate when people say that. how do they know? what if it's a year of challenge, growth, stretching, and hurt? no one likes to see those things as good, but as the year wraps up...those things are never deemed as making the past year "a good one."

the other day i was coming home from the gym, about to hop in the shower (tmi? sorry.) and i was reflecting on this past year. the reflection that everyone does right around christmas..but whatever, my mind went there and i got to thinking. in complete transparency to you, my reader, there has not been too many ends of the years where i look back and say "wow what a great year." in my mind, it goes more like this, " phew im glad that year is over, it was good..but hard." or like this " that was a pretty good year, but (again) im glad its over."

this year however, i thought with 100% belief that 2011 has been a good year. a year full of celebration, friendship, community and growth. i can't remember the last time i thought about a year as whole and thought how wonderful it was and that good, or bad..there is nothing i would change.

things like this have made my heart full, glad and thankful.

my 22nd birthday with some of my closest friends:

one of the most memorable days of my life:

graduating from the place that shaped me most:

the day my sister became a wonderful man's bride:

moving to a new state:

this year, come what may..may my heart be full of gratitude, humility, blessing and growth.