I am not a big fan of the New Year’s resolution thing, and so I wasn’t planning on blogging about anything resolution-esque.

But then I read Father Jim Martin’s post over at Huffington Post, 12 Really Stupid Things I Never Want To Do Again (December 29, 2011). As I reflected on it, I realized that I’ve partaken of a dozen or so really stupid things myself! So I figured it wouldn’t hurt for me to consider something new for the new year. No, not a new really stupid thing, but a new idea or habit or virtue I could reflect and focus on.

Nothing much had come across my path in the last 24 hours so I figured I’d just skip it. Then, as I was going through me email, I found one that our IHM Community sent out — a “Remembering” reflection in honor of my friend and IHM Sister who died early this week. In her remembering I found these words of hers:

Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.
    ~ Sister Frances Ryan, IHM

These are words that I will treasure and strive to live out of as Frances did throughout her life. You can read more about Sister Frances in a 2009 article on our IHM website.

I‘m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but I love the end of the year as a time of reflection. It’s a time for me to take stock of what’s happened over the year and how it has affected me and the people around me. I think about the values that I want to cultivate more deeply in my life and in the world in the coming year—values like compassion, generosity, and hope.

Being fond of rituals, I also like to do stuff that symbolizes renewal. It’s usually something mundane, like cleaning out files on my computer and in the filing cabinet. But I’ve found that my New Year’s reflection time prepares me body and soul to let go of what I need to, so that there’s room for renewal and new life.

If you have a New Year’s prayer practice, we’d love to hear about it! You can share it by writing in the comment box below.

Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

The turn of the new year often fills us with ideas and inspirations to try something new, to set out on a new path for the new year. To those of you who have entertained (however briefly or maybe for a long time!) with the idea of becoming a sister or nun, I invite you to consider the following:

Do you long for something more, a something that just can’t seem to be filled by your current work, relationships, endeavors, etc. even though you experience these as good?

Are you interested in deepening your life of faith through prayer, ministry, and community with others who share similar values, vision, and mission?

Are you open to the Spirit and the often surprising ways the Spirit leads?

Are you attracted to the life of Jesus the Christ and to lives of saints and holy people who strove to follow Jesus and live the Gospel?

Do you wish to live and think and “be” in a way that places the common good ahead of other goods such as personal wants?

Are you able to let go of preconceived images of what religious life is or should be?

Can you accept the humanity of yourself and of sisters and nuns and at the same time trust that the Spirit is alive and well in and through our humanity?

Do you feel both attracted to and terrified of the though of religious life, wondering perhaps, why God would call you of all people?

Are you willing to use your gifts, talents, experience, energy, and passion for God’s purposes and for a common mission and life in God?

Are you up for the greatest adventure of your life?

This is your invitation, your opportunity to take a step toward responding to this call. You don’t have to have it all figured out, or rationalize it, or be without doubt or fear. That’s all part of the package. Yo are invited to take a leap of faith, trusting that though you do not know where it will lead, that God is right here with you and will lead you to good.

What do you do now? Start reading and doing any of the suggestions on our page How to Become a Nun. Say something to that sister you admire but were afraid to say anything to about your desire. If you’ve felt attracted to the mission and life of Sister Maxine, myself, or other sisters here at A Nun’s Life, then take a chance and contact us. Check out Catholics on Call. Call the vocation director of the community you’ve been thinking about. Attend a retreat or day of prayer where you can explore how your desires and attractions are part of God’s call to you.

There is only one thing left to say.

Begin.

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Please join us at 6:00 p.m. CST (your time zone) for Praying with the Sisters podcast, a ministry of A Nun’s Life. Visit aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

I have the R.E.M. song “It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)” in my head. I must say, I feel fine that this year is just about over. It’s been a good one, but it has been absolutely full with running from one thing to the other and major transitions. I’m ready for 2010.

Today I’m turning the writing over to you: What was most significant for you in 2009? What do you look forward to in 2010?

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Please join us at 6:00 p.m. CST (your time zone) for Praying with the Sisters podcast, a ministry of A Nun’s Life. Visit aNunsLife.org/LIVE. Our next podcast will be on Monday, January 4.

My first act of 2008 was to drink coffee and watch a movie. No, I didn’t stay up past midnight. I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. and woke up around 7:30 (a nice, deep sleep) and decided to start the new year off by doing something unusual. I popped in a DVD and watched a movie at 8 o’clock in the morning! Which movie, you wonder? Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007). A good film with some very clever dialogue and scenes. Ay, matey!

While watching movies in the morning is probably not a norm I will continue, I hope that being open to the unexpected will be a norm that I can incorporate into my life in 2008.  Sometimes I think there are these silent barriers that we take for granted, but in reality they just don’t exist. Case in point: there’s no law that says you can’t watch a movie in the morning but generally it’s just not something we do. Not any more. I’m committed to being open to the unexpected even if it means knocking down a few silent, seemingly-real-but-really-non-existent barriers.

Okay, so what are you planning for 2008? I know it is so cliché to do the resolution thing, but it’s not a bad time to think about what you want to do or who you want to become in the future.