The years end

If i am lucky i may get to stick one more post here before the years end. Regardless this has been a good year, and i am very happy to have had the opportunity to post my thoughts here.

i was getting ready to toss my calendar when the last day of the year caught my attention. On it i had written, "Have i grown in character".

i only vaguely remember writing it there and it was much earlier in the year. Without much thought i really could not answer in the affirmative. But i thought about all that happened this year, and all that has changed. My second son was born, i stepped out of religion and into community with Jesus and fellow pilgrims, my views on capital punishment, and Christmas have changed dramatically. Above all my relationship to God and to my wife has come into greater clarity.
When i first wondered about my having grown i answered in the negative simply because there are a lot of areas that i still fail continually. After some thought though i changed my answer and approach to the above question. How?
Well. . . Simply, i realize that i have so many short comings. Before i was so very ignorant to them (or simply chose not to accept them). Recently, God has made me very aware of them, and he has been working me through them. This is a start - nothing more.
My prayer for this year is that we would accept our short comings and go before God willing to work through them. My prayer is that each of us would be willing to grow this year.
My prayer is that we would approach life from a God-centered point of view and not an American-ME-centered point of view.
God bless us all in the coming year.