Chronicles of 2011

I just finished!

I try to keep a running chronicle of the happenings of the year... some are short and sweet like:

February 25th - Dentist - no cavities - Check in in 6 more months.

Some are longer characterized by facts, feelings, faces tied to particular days like:

September 5th - Papaw died suddenly today.  I can't believe He is gone... no more Papaw jokes, almost blue hair rinses, hours in front of You tube listening to Big Band music, no more of Papaw's candy he made for Christmas, no more sentimental moments of tears and memories from his 88 year old mind, hot tempered political opinions or liltingly gruff "Love you!" on the way out the door.  I already miss him so much...

I have been keeping these running chronicles for the last 8-9 years now.  It started as almost an exercise in prose that basically ended up becoming a daily journal and then modified to become a running list of events, experiences, wins, losses, and all the mundane in between.  I have loved going back through the Chronicles of yester-year to see what I have accomplished, where I was and how far I have come.  Or how far I have not come.   I see some of both.

I write this to encourage you to keep some sort of a journal this year.  It can be a sentence a day.  For those who want a little more info, maybe 4 sentences that address the "Peak" of the day, the "Pit" of the day, the "Praise" of the day and the "Prayer" of the day.  I believe that Satan will utilize whatever it takes to throw us off a godly course.  He is wily and ruthless and will stop at nothing to have our souls and our allegiance.  Really, he is primarily concerned that God the Father doesn't have our allegiance.  I think one consistent way he does this is to distract us from noticing and remembering the good that God has done in our lives.  To compartmentalize Him into a season of our lives or an area of our lives - keep Him from pervading our lives as He so desires to do.

I keep my chronicles of life handy so that I can see what the Lord has done at a glance over the last year of my life.  Where He kept me safe and where He guided me to the right job....When He delivered a miracle of family reconciliation and whose path crossed with mine to encourage a downtrodden soul.  It helps me to remember... to write them on the doorframes of my house and my heart so I may see and remember that through the peaks, pits, praises and prayers, God is there.  He is always there and has committed to be there to the end of the age... for me. (Matthew 28:20)

So take a few at the end of each day and remember the goodness of the Lord.  Chronicle Christ's love for you so you don't ever forget.