Despreux and lessons for 2009

Happy 2009 all!
It's weird. 2008 is officially a memory. All the things that happened last year (including yesterday) are a part of the past. And though that past will make itself known in the present, the future lays beckoning before.
No wonder people make New Year's Resolutions, standing on New Years Day, January 1st, things look bright and clean. Anything seems possible.
Then real life sets in. And people discover that keeping those resolutions they made with the best intentions is a lot harder than anticipated.
Pessimistic? Probably. Realistic? Definitely.
I have no New Year's Resolutions. I know myself too well to even attempt to make them. There are habits I'm going to try and change, but I've been working on those for awhile now. I don't wait to start something till the year turns. I start right then and there. And with the Lord's guidance and help, I do alright. Though some days are better than others. But then, some days are always better then others.
I do have a new mantra/motto. "It builds character" is still my mantra, but my motto comes from the song "One of Those Days" by 33 Miles. I first heard this song Christmas Day, and vowed right then and there to try and reflect it in my life.
The verses talk about all the things that go wrong on any given day. Waking up late, getting a flat, losing your identity, but it's the chorus is what really grabs your attention:
"It's just one of those days, when everything's right,
God is in His heaven and I'm walkin' in the light,
So hallelujah anyway.
It's just one of those days, you look at the sky,
Throw your hands up and you laugh at life,
So hallelujah, Lord be praised!
It's just one of those days."
And then the bridge just hammers it in:
"So come on rain,
Lightening strike,
Just you try and shake my life,
You've got no power, you've got no hold.
Cuz it is well with my soul"
That is the closest thing to a New Year's Resolution as I come.
Anyway, today Ma and I went to see Tales of Despreux which is based on a children's novel. It was animated and everything. Ma says there were a lot of differences between book and movie (and as an elementary school teacher, she would know) and now I want to read it. I'll have it read in a day, but that's not the point.
Besides, some of the themes and hidden meanings, like dark and light, grief and forgiveness, honor, loyalty and honesty, those are the things that mature audiences need to hear. The kinds of things they rarely see in "mature" movies. The kinds of things deemed unworthy values in today's society. These are the things adult audiences need to be aware of.
Honor, integrity, loyalty and honesty are not just throwbacks to some bygone era. We Americans live in a land of indulgence, where everything is ripe for the taking. And we are indoctrinated from an early age to do so. And if you go against the grain, you're considered an abnormal idiot who will never get anywhere in life.
If being seen as an abnormal idiot is what it takes for me to live the life God wants me to, then bring on the dunce cap.
I want to be a Daniel, a David, a Barnabas, a Ruth, and Esther, a Jonathan, an Abraham in my world. It's not going to be easy. Some days will be better than others. I will screw up. More than once. But that is the desire of my heart. Not to screw up, but to be who I was created to be, and to live for Him with no looking back.
That is my prayer for 2009.