creating a future

disclaimer: I have never hated spending time or being with my family. I love them and always will.

So apparently the first decade of the 21st century is going by and I didn't even notice. The sad thing is that I really should have.

10 years ago I was 12 years old. I remember being so excited that I got to move up in to the youth group. One of my first youth activities was winter retreat and it was over new years. Y2K was the big thing then. I remember thinking it was going to be a bust.

Lots of things have happened over the last 10 years and by most people's accounts they were supposed to be the most formative years of my life. I am completely sure that they were. However, over this Christmas break I have had the time to look through several photo albums of family events and also read some pretty interesting articles on the decade here. But looking at these has really made me realize that I, for the most part, just coasted through this decade. I hardly remember several of the major events which happened in my family. All in all I missed a lot because I was often focused on stuff that didn't really have much importance.

This Christmas break has been one of the best I can remember. I hardly saw any of my friends and I spent most of the time with my family. It's a Christmas I would have marked as "average" if it had happened 2 or 3 years ago though. Maybe it's just the older I get, but I am starting to realize: family is pretty important. I guess in the past I just tended to look at family as more of an obligation rather than a privilege.

Even not talking about the decade, the lest year has been life changing to say the least. So you can call it a new year's resolution if you want to, or a new decade's resolution, but. . .

• I want to spend more time with my family and if I can't spend more time with them due to distance, I at least want to make sure they know how much they mean to me.
• I want to start my own family. No kids. At least for a while, but I am ready to share my life with Lauren.
• I want to be consistent with my devotions. I am terrible at it.
  
• I want to be a better friend.
• I want to do a better job at trying to remember what I study at school.
• I want to be more Christ-like in every way I can be.
• When it is all said and done, I want to be able to look back on this decade and truly remember the good, the bad, and the things that have really shaped my life.

Well, I have never written out a set of resolutions before. Maybe it will make a difference.

Its late, but I really felt like I needed to get all this out of my head.

i hope it makes a difference. . .