I have family members who decide to give up things for a year as part of their New Year resolutions. I think it is great and remarkable. How do you go for a year without something as great as cheese or soda or chocolate? It is a work of self discipline to be admired! My children are a bit shocked by the whole idea, and they do not really understand it. David blurted out one evening that instead of subtracting, he was going to add something for the New Year (specifically he mentioned more candy). For some reason that idea stuck with our family (not the more candy part). We want to add something for the upcoming year, whether that be writing more encouraging notes, turning our minds toward trust and hope more often as we working on the process of renewing our minds (Romans 12:2), or acting out more in friendship. We want to become more and not less. We want to demonstrate more of what God has intended us for.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me – Philippians 3:12b