Happy New Year to all! We welcome 2021 with great Hope for
Better Times and we bid farewell to 2020 with much relief in seeing
it end! And in all we put our faith, hope, and love in Jesus, Our Lord
and Savior!

I’m guessing that many of you made New Year’s Resolutions for 2021. Maybe it was to lose weight, or to exercise more, or to quit
smoking, or to cut back on drinking, or to do your homework without
complaining, or to stop swearing, or to pray more, or to go back to
church regularly, or to…..well, you fill in the blanks. My resolution
actually came from my Advent challenge: to find things to be thankful for. It wasn’t always easy, as I shared in an Advent column a few
weeks ago. But I found that the more purposeful attention I gave to
finding reasons to thank God, the more hopeful and aware I became.
I even realized that when I couldn’t find one good thing to say thank
you for in a particular situation, I thanked God for helping me realize
that I was weak and had to depend on Him–that I could not supply
the answer, I needed Him and He never would leave me! What an
awesome thing to be thankful for! And wow, did it awaken my
awareness of God in my day to day activities! So, again, my resolution for 2021 will be to practice thankfulness and hope.

And that ties us to another topic that this column has explored in
the past–random acts of kindness. It is so easy to be thankful when
you are reaching out to help others in any little way you can. And it is
biblical: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We
have seen on the news over the past year where groups have brought
meals to hospitals as a way to say thank you for putting their lives on
the line. While that is an amazing thing to do, it can cost money and
many of us have had our incomes reduced during 2020. There are,
however, so many things we could do that have no money involved.
{hint: The idea is to do these things without expecting any recognition or thank yous!} How many of us have been in such a hurry shopping that we haven’t taken the time to look at anyone except to glare
when they get in our way. How about just looking at a fellow shopper
and saying “Hello, hope you are having a good day!” Or letting
someone checkout in front of you, especially if they only have a few
items. Or clearing the snow from a neighbors sidewalk or driveway.
Or bringing a casserole to someone who has moved into your neighborhood or is sick. Or making an extra dozen or two of cookies and
taking it to the fire or police station or even the post office with a
simple “Thank you for your service”. Or grabbing a cup of coffee for
a Salvation Army bell ringer. Or playing with your younger sibling
when you know that your parents are exhausted. Or making a phone
call–yes, in person,–to a relative who may be alone. Or sending a
thinking of you note to someone who may be stuck at home during
the pandemic. Or with your children, make favors to put on dinner
trays and dropping them off at an assisted living facility. There are so
many things you can do! And, unless you are The Grinch, doing
these things will make YOU feel good and give YOU something to
be thankful for. Recognize too, that not everyone is a gracious receiver, you may not get a “Well aren’t you kind” back–but that’s not why
we do random acts of kindness. We do them because Jesus wants us
to love one another as we love ourselves. You might find that this
could be a resolution that you can actually do for the long haul.
Resolve to be thankful and do random acts of kindness—how
about it?

May your 2021 New Year be healthy, happy, joyful, thankful,
and Blessed!