Last April, I was pondering my daughter’s first encounter with stitches. This April, I’m pondering how I spent all of March just thinking about my resolution to organize and clean up the toys. I did make some strides from thinking to doing, but it was in the last five days of the month. April will continue that adventure.

But that’s not my resolution for April. That’s just me, getting rid of some clutter ’round here and finishing off a project that will bug me to pieces if I don’t attack it soon.

April is a time of beginnings here in the Midwest. The daffodils start peeking through the ground, the crocuses bloom in the midst of whatever weather shows up, and the trees bud out into blossoms as big as the baby’s fingers. The grass will start growing, and since I’m not pregnant, I can resume my love affair with the fine art of mowing. I’ll see the dandelions, and I’ll muse about how they’re EVERYWHERE, and how they’re just plain beautiful to my simple way of seeing the world while I suck in the smell of grass and wind and sheep.

My resolution this April is the same as it was last year. It is to deal with one of those routine little sins, something that so often gets in the way of my enjoyment of life. As April flourishes with new life and spring takes hold of the world around me, I resolve to stop my complaining. My house is old and needs a lot of work – but it’s a house and it can be a castle, with enough elbow grease and TLC. My life might not work out the way I intend much of the time, but God is there, beside me, leading me (if I let him), and maybe the way I intend isn’t the best way. Complaining (even if it’s only in my own head, with that plethora of voices) doesn’t help me to focus my gaze heavenward, my feet vocation-ward. Complaining acts as a barrier between me and my God.

Wondering what a New Month’s Resolution is? Go visit Michelle, my inspiration for this endeavor to make big changes through small steps.