I have absolutely no idea why I came up with this title. It just felt good in a whimsical kind of way. And it will probably have nothing at all to do with the rest of the blog.

Today ends my Christmas vacation, or stay-cation, since I didn’t exactly go anywhere during my time off. It was also yet another memorable Christmas for me and once again, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that Christmas Day has already come and gone.

The older I get, the more keenly aware I am of family and friends. The more I see how precious they are to me. The more I am aware of just how much God has blessed and encouraged and challenged and changed me through all of them.

I also see that while I take for granted that all my family and all my friends will always be there, I also know they won’t. This Christmas reminded me of how fragile this life is and how we must handle it with care. Life is much too valuable to be wasted on grudges and petty things and unforgiveness. The pain spent making a wrong right or mending a broken friendship or simply saying, “I’m sorry, I was wrong forgive me,” is much less than the pain of regret over words not spoken and forgiveness withheld.

I see that the most valuable things in life are too precious to hold on to with closed fists. I must hold them with open hands, always ready to let them go. Really, nothing in this life belongs to me, anyway. I’m just taking care of it. My job is  to make sure that everything and everyone in my life leaves me better off than when I received them.

My job is to make sure that in the time you know me and spend with me, I let you go looking more like Jesus than before I met you. That you run the race with more assurance and fight the good faith with more confidence and trust God more radically.

That’s where I am headed in 2012. Less of me and more of Jesus. Less of my own plans and more of surrender to whatever He wants. Less anxiety and craving and striving and more resting and trusting and believing the promises.

Most of all, I want to remain a Ragamuffin whose mantra is still “My Abba is very fond of me (and you)!”