A Winnie-the-Pooh Car life!

Moments after our car pulled into the garage, and we unloaded Caleb from his car seat, joy overtook his face!  After a long 9 hour drive he was so thankful to be out of the car and able to run and stretch his legs!  He bolted inside the house, and an instant giggle was heard outside!  I grabbed a few bags and headed inside only to find our sweet son pushing his Winnie-the-Pooh play car around the house!  His joy was contagious, and wasn’t found in one of the many incredible Christmas gifts he had received.  Instead, in that moment, his greatest joy was found in a toy he had already been playing with for months!

Many times we start a New Year with planning and looking forward toward the things that are ahead.  You spend time preparing for goals and new requirements at work.  You work toward getting your calendar organized for that upcoming family vacation, dinner party, or business trip.  Many times when 2012 arrives you have personal and professional resolutions already in place that you are trying desperately to live out.   In most cases, work or school has already been pushed to full-throttle and you find yourself looking toward and dreaming about your next vacation or break on the calendar!    Life can so quickly get ahead of us, and our break-neck pace spinning so out of control before we have time to even realize and slow down!  Don’t let that be your 2012!  Don’t miss these treasured first few weeks and months of a new year because you’re so focused on the things that are ahead.  Make sure that you take some time to look back, and find great joy in the things that have delighted you this past year!

During the Christmas season it’s easy to be reminded of the importance of spending time treasuring the people and things around us that have brought great blessing.  Why not spend the start of 2012, treasuring the people and things that have already (and continue to) bring you great joy!  Go look for that “Winnie-the-Pooh car”, and allow it to bring a giggle to your heart like it once did!  I guarantee that doing so will allow you to keep what matters most in focus, for the start of 2012!

So why not do that today?  Why not decide today to cherish, for the rest of 2012, something you’re blessed by, or thankful for?  Let’s try to make 2012 a year of JOY and gratitude.  Truly, “The Lord has done GREAT things for us, and we are filled with JOY!” Ps. 126:3