What are your resolutions this Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day can be a bit of a wakeup call. It’s been six weeks since we made our New Year’s resolutions. While many people seem to be sailing into their glorious, resolution-guided, intentional-habit filled life, I can’t even remember what I said I wanted to focus on this year. Instead, I’m looking ahead to spring, and new and exciting ideas captivate my attention.

Lately I’ve noticed that my priorities have slipped a bit. Like you, I’m busy with a lot of different things that are important to me, and all demand my immediate attention. I’m distracted all the time and I’m staying up too late. In turn, I’m not getting up early, either- on my most successful days, I wake before my children so that I may prepare my heart for the day, read my Bible and pray, and put on my daily “uniform”.

In case you are wondering, that uniform involves one of my two identical pairs of elastic-waist LuluLemon lined pants, a solid color Target t-shirt, and an open cardigan from LL Bean. When I get real dressy-like, I change the pants to jeans. When I go to bed, I change the pants to leggings. It’s so incredibly streamlined that I forget what day of the week it is. My kids frequently don’t know if I’m in pajamas or if I am fully dressed. But I digress.

Anyway, lately I am wearing my nighttime pants instead of my daytime pants well into the daytime. I’m not being intentional with my mornings. I need a reminder to get my personal calendar back in line so that I can focus my attention on the important things. Valentine’s Day is just exactly that reminder.

Most people make resolutions based on a format of “do more X, be more Y, do less Z”. In addition to the various health-related resolutions, most of us probably made a resolution to “love more” in some way.

Perhaps it was to spend more time with your kids, or to befriend a lonely soul. Perhaps you wanted to devote more time to a cause, or to volunteer, or to be impactful in your community. We all want deep, authentic friendships. Maybe you didn’t write it down, but surely you want a wonderful marriage and a loving relationship with your spouse.

Perhaps, six weeks in, the actions required by those “love more” resolutions may be neglected, or forgotten, or even seem pointless. If you are, like me, overwhelmed and tired, even just completing the day with the basics accomplished can sometimes be a struggle. It’s difficult to give more. Especially this day, this season of life, in these last 20 minutes I have before the baby wakes up, in the few moments I have before my meeting starts, before I go to bed, etc. etc. etc.

Our days will never have an extra block of time, generously sized for making lasting connections and showing love to others. But while we may not have large blocks of time, perhaps you have three minutes, four times a day. Or 15 minutes on Monday, and then another 10 minutes on Friday. Maybe it’s not a whole lot, but could you find pockets in your day?

Do something intentional with this small amount of time. Knock on your neighbor’s door and give her some tea bags that you thought she might enjoy. Jot a note on a greeting card and drop it in the mail. Leave a voicemail or voice text message for a friend. Pray for the friend you don’t have time to contact, but is on your heart. Call your great-aunt and listen for 10 minutes. Sit on the floor with your child and play a game of Memory. Look into your husband’s eyes and love the man he is, today.

If you, as I do, need a restart on your resolutions, use this Valentine’s day as your reason to show love. And please share with me your thoughts!