Encouragement in 2013

Remember this post?

Yeah, that's right: Strong Opinions in 2012.  That turned out a little weird.

I mean, there were some good posts in there, at least at first.  (I still love this one.)  The problem was that, as the year went forward, our lives changed pretty drastically.  All of the sudden any opinion that I held whether strong or not didn't seem to be very important.  Worse than that, the things that I was SO sure about in January seemed a lot less certain in June.

Having your confidence shaken a little bit is natural in extreme circumstances.  It may even be somewhat healthy if you can channel it in the right direction.  While it's important not to let yourself become demoralized, a reminder that you don't have it all figured out can give you a better perspective and greater insight. If I learned just one lesson in 2012, that was it.

Who doesn't need to be encouraged?

 Anyways, I think I've given up on typical New Years' resolutions.  What I really want is to live my life developing good character.  I don't know if last year counted, but this year I want to focus on encouragement.

People always tell me I'm gifted with words and--if it's true they can be used to hurt or heal--I want to use them to breath life into somebody's day.  So that's the goal here in 2013.  We've pulled the drapes on the strong opinions.  (Not that I don't have them; they're just not the focus.)  I hope that here on the blog and in daily life I can say words that will encourage somebody.

On 2013!