As I sat down to write this blog, I wasn't sure whether to entitle it "Another Year Has Come and Gone" or "Another Year Has Begun". So I compromised and used "Another Year" because I didn't want to just focus on one or the other.

Have you been looking back on 2009 and asking where did the time go? It just seems like 2009 flew by. (I've been told that it goes faster as you get older. I guess it's true.) Maybe that's one reason the Bible says our life is just a vapor - it goes by so quickly. Most of what we've done has now become a blur and we've started looking forward to another new year. And so our lives go from year to year. It's a vicious cycle that never stops until we pass from this life to the next.

So is there anything we can do to keep life from passing us by? Here are a few things that others have told me they do and a couple that we do or have done with our family. Some of them are daily/weekly things, others are yearly things. No matter which one(s) you choose, it can be a blessing to you.

1. Un-clutter your schedule. Choose to do the things that are most important (the things that really matter) and leave the rest behind. Don't get so caught up in your outside activities that you neglect to spend time with your family (physical or spiritual) and grow closer to the Lord together.

2. Write down your New Year's resolutions. Several years ago, our family started writing down our resolutions and storing them in a "time capsule" (jar) to be read at the end of the year. It's fun to see what we were thinking at that time and see if any of our predictions/resolutions became reality.

3. Take photos. The nice thing about digital cameras is you can easily make a slideshow with all your photos. You can also store your photos in chronological order (whether in a photo album or photo box) and look at them in that order. Scrap booking is a fun way to use your best photos. You can make your scrapbook as simple or fancy as you want, but either way it's nice to be able to look at the photos with a written record of what was going on in that shot. Of course, the whole object for these projects is to sit down as a family and remember what happened throughout the year.

4. Take inventory of your day so you can celebrate what has been accomplished. It's so easy to get caught up in the daily routines of life that we miss the blessing of accomplishment. God has instilled in us the desire to feel needed or wanted and every accomplishment that has been made shows us that we are needed (in big or small ways).

5. Write a journal. Keeping a journal, then reading back through it at the end of the year, helps you see how God was working in your life during that year. It doesn't have to be a daily journal if that's too much for you, but a quick note each week of the events, accomplishments, blessings, or your thoughts about something that caught your attention that week can be a great tool to use when you feel like nothing is going on in your life.

6. Calendar. Buy a family calendar to write on when special things happen or just use the calendar with to keep your daily schedule and go over it at the end of the year. You'll be surprised at the memories these little notes can bring back. Keeping track of the little things can bring big blessings! It's also fun to write down cute or funny things that your children/grandchildren say or do from time to time. There will come a time when they will want to hear about some of the things they did and you will be prepared to share those moments.

7. Make a recording (audio or video) at the beginning of the year of family members saying something about themselves, their goals, New Year's resolutions, events that happened during the past year, etc. Then at the end of the year, listen to what everyone said. It can bring lots of good memories, laughter and probably a few tears.

These are just a few ideas to help capture the time. There are many more once we get our creative thoughts flowing, but the most important thing is to see what has been accomplished as a family or individual through the power of God. So often we get down on ourselves because we haven't done anything (or think we haven't done anything). However, when we really take the time to look at the whole picture, we realize that more has happened in our lives than we thought. God is constantly working in our lives if we let Him (and often when we resist Him), but many times we don't see it because we are "too busy" to notice. This is a great time of the year to take notice and give Him the praise for all the things that have happened or have been accomplished on our behalf!

Take a short journey through the past and then look forward to the future with the hope that God will do more through you and your family in the coming year!