I don't know about you but I can't wait until 2009 is history. Whew! It has been one tough year in many ways for many, many people including me. However, let's keep our perspective big. The world is a whole lot bigger than the small world you and I live in. When reflecting on this past year, think about others and what they had to go through compared to you. Here are a couple of personal reflective thoughts to consider:

As we each go through tough times, the education we each receive is not standardized but individual for you and you alone as it is for me and me alone. For each person who encounters tough times, what is shown them is for their eyes and their eyes only. For their ears. And for their heart.

Sometimes we get what we ask for. Often times the very things we have desired and maybe even prayed for are given to us only for us to realize it wasn't exactly the gift we wanted or expected. As I continue to grow as a person, the very thing I wanted to happen does and then it seems I'm thrown to the ground, held there, face down against the dirt, breath knocked out of me, and waiting for the battle to end. But it doesn't. Maybe it will continue? For how long? I don't know but one lesson I'm learning is that it's okay to surrender or give in. I've never been one fond of quotes like, "Failure is not an option." Or, "Never, never give up". Sometimes failure and giving up are options. You think?

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory or defeat". Teddy Roosevelt

So, reflect on these questions as you leave 2009 and begin a new 2010.

1. How did you finish 09...strong or defeated? What were the lessons you learned about you, others, life, your accomplishments and defeats?

2. What two or three people most impacted your life in 09? What individual relationships changed for the better or worse in 09?

3. If you could sum up 09 in a word or two what would it be? What do wish someone would be able to say about you as a result of 09?

4. What is one goal you have for yourself in 2010-physically, relationally, vocationally, spiritually, mentally, financially?

5. What will be the biggest risk you will take this year? What will you expect to learn?

6. Before 2010 even begins, what one thing do you want others to be able to say about you at the end of 2010 that is different than what they would say about you now?

7. As a leader Jack Welch used to gather his senior executives together in January and tell them to act as though they had just been newly appointed to their jobs. What would they do differently if they were coming in to their business without preconceived notions and with a completely fresh perspective? It's a great question to ask those you lead.

Thanks to each of you who read these blogs. I hope they have been and will continue to be a source of ideas, thoughts of encouragement and reflection. May this coming year be a year where you grow and learn from all the ways God blesses your life.

rb