This week we look forward to the start of a new year, untouched, like a slate that is unmarked and clean, just waiting for us to paint our thoughts and impressions onto it. Many of us will start to compile a list of New Year resolutions…setting goals for 2009. For a lot of us, by the end of January many of those goals start to unravel, and we become discouraged, wondering why we should continue on the course that looked so bright at the beginning.

I think if we approach the New Year with a different perspective and keep a symbol or image in our minds it may be easier to stay focused and navigate the road ahead. I approach the New Year as a builder, a person who sees a piece of land, and the possibilities that can come forth. I look at the formulation of my goals, hopes, and dreams as a house…a beautiful shining building that by the end of the year I can be proud of. A builder needs tools, not just hammers and nails but Faith, encouragement, conviction and the belief that when you put your mind to it, anything is possible.

In January we start the foundation…we make sure it is strong and has the potential to hold what we place upon it. We make sure there are no cracks. Each proceeding month we add to our house…floor by floor we put in the plumbing, the electrical wiring, the heating system, etc. Sometimes we make mistakes, one room may not be wired right, so we go back, repair the damage and continue on. By the Spring, we see that our house is off the ground and rising. The contributions we have made to our house are beginning to show. People pass by and are amazed how fast the house is starting to come together…but little do they see the problems that we encountered to get to our level. So on we go, each day building brick by brick with the sky above us…and with each brick a feeling of accomplishment comes over us and a better understanding of the mistakes we have made so that we try not to make them again. God looks down and sees a person trying to push forward with a house of meaning and purpose. A badly built house with a weak foundation won’t stand very long…but a good house can last forever. God understands how hard it is to built good houses.

By the Fall, our floors are completed, and we are about to add our roof. We want a roof that will not leak, that can take the elements. If we have done all our work and done it well, by the end of the year we will be standing in front of a house amazed that we were able to accomplish this once monumental task. We look at each brick and floor and see a story. We see the set-backs and the over comings. It is possible to build a good house, God willing, with the right tools, and determination…All things are possible.

Good Luck with your house,

love, Jennifer Avalon

© 2009 Jennifer Avalon

A wise person once said, “It’s always the darkest before the dawn.” This year, for many, 2008 was close to the darkness. Financial market turmoil, scandals, a beckoning recession, and unemployment…wow. Still, if we have our health, we are one of the lucky ones.

Yet, “The truth will set us free,” as the old saying goes. As our problems unfold, it is only then we can lay them out in front of us and deal with them. Very few obstacles can be tackled hidden in the attic. Hang in there….the dawn is coming. At first the dawn is very hard to see….it appears as a speck of light, a hazy beacon that in the beginning seems like a mirage….yet slowly and surely its presence starts to appear. Minute by minute the light grows…a flashlight through a dark tunnel that signifies that a change is going to come. Eventually the sun bursts through, in all its glory….warming up the earth, extinguishing the chill. The dawn….a new beginning, a new chance to right the wrongs, and build on the accomplishments of the preceding day. As the seconds pass, as strange as it may be to believe, we start to forget the darkness that we have walked through. As the light grows, and the darkness recedes, over time the shadows become memories. Gone, but just behind us, is the darkness, just waiting to pounce if the light is extinguished.

We have all learned much this year….we will get through, but we cannot forget what we have learned. A new day will dawn and the chill will thaw but our lives will reflect what we’ve been through. Somebody recently wrote to me in an email along these lines, sharing an old saying, “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”

This Holiday Season may we all get stronger, and await the dawning of the new day that is coming.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2008 Jennifer Avalon