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"I would like to change my bedtime on New Year's Eve," says Tyler, 11. "I usually go to bed at 10 p.m., but I would like to stay up all night. I would have a great time because we would first party, second play video games and third eat a lot!"
Tyler, if you ever get your way, you may wish you had gone to bed at 10 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Sabrine, 10, has a better idea: "At midnight everyone would yell Happy New Year and then go to bed. In the morning, everyone would open a present, and have a slice of apple pie and hot cocoa."
The roads would be a lot safer with the apple pie and hot cocoa plan.
"I would change my room and my hope in God to make it stronger, and my love for God to make it stronger," says Jenna, 11.
Jenna, I wonder whether changing your room is connected to your hope in and love for God. I've noticed that when my living area gets cluttered, it's harder to focus my mind on God. On the other hand, if your house looks like a museum, and that's all you ever think about, you may have organized God out of your life.
"I would like to change my attitude toward my parents," says Cassidy, 11.
Aside from driving under the influence of alcohol on New Year's Eve, few things in life can set one back as quickly as a bad attitude toward parents. On the positive side, the Bible promises a long life to those who honor their parents (Deuteronomy 5:16).
I once attended a seminar taught by Dr. Neil T. Anderson, professor and author of "Victory Over the Darkness." Anderson showed a video of a woman in a counseling session with a host of problems. Her words, face and body language conveyed distress, anguish and suffering. When Anderson asked the woman about her mother, her stress level increased. He hit a nerve.
After the woman admitted she needed to forgive her mother, Anderson asked her to say it out loud. Watching her try to speak was like going to the dentist to see a root canal. She struggled to get loose as if someone had bound her with rope and duct tape. Her appearance changed immediately after she spoke words of forgiveness.
"I would like to change my attitude toward chores and homework," says Emma, 11. "I hope in the new year, my attitude will change."
I once met Pastor Chuck Swindoll, one of the best-known radio Bible teachers and authors of this generation. After giving him my business card, he reached into his pocket and gave me a card entitled "Attitudes." Here's how it reads:
"Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live, the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.
"I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my success or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position.
"Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me."
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COPYRIGHT 2022 CAREY KINSOLVING
COPYRIGHT 2022 CAREY KINSOLVING
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