I delight in good things.

Oh man I love new years.

There is something about a new year that is so hopeful. It's so fresh. So happy. And best of all, so unwritten. Anything could happen this year, how awesome is that!

This year I have chosen a "word of the year." My word is focus.

Last year I felt so scatterbrained all year. My mind was here, there and everywhere because I was literally: here, there, here again, back there, then all around again. Even though the schedule of life has changed little, my attitude and goals can be much more focused. Focus among the frenzy. That's the real theme.

Some themes I have already noticed emerging this year, I tried to express in a little talk I had the opportunity to give over the weekend. While I don't think I connected all my points very well at that time, I hope to be able to express some of the thoughts I was having, at least preliminarily as I hope to expand on this thought throughout the year.

Over the course of the end of the year, among the the hoopla of the holidays I became kind of indifferent about a few things. I got tired. I got overwhelmed and if anything else, I was just kind of done with 2012, it wore me out. As a result, I became indifferent to somethings.  In other words there were days where it just didn't matter. It didn't much matter if I followed the prompting of a thought I had or if I spent time in my scriptures that day. It didn't much matter if I did my visiting teaching or shut off the tv and played a game with my sister who is always anxious to spend time with me. Goodbye priorities, hello indifference. Then I started to notice indifference in others. And then indifference bugged me. When something like that bugs me...it's the number one red flag that the most guilty person of that quality is myself. And so I was called to repentance so to speak. I came face to face with all the things I had just kind of let fall by the wayside.

Currently I am involved in some leadership activities. These leadership activities and roles would suggest that I am indeed a leader. I want to be a leader. I think the words leader and indifferent cannot be part of the same person.

All these thoughts (and remember how i warned you they were kind of preliminary thoughts) reminded me of a scripture my mission president once shared with us. I don't remember the context or the time frame but the scripture can be found in Revelations 3: 15-16 in the New Testament. It says

 15 I know thy ^aworks, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

 16 So then because thou art ^alukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will ^bspue thee out of my mouth.

We can't be lukewarm (aka indifferent). I think God is saying a lot of things in this passage of scripture but as my mission president put it, we have to be all in or all out, there is no in between.

And so this year, I want to put it all in. Find the focus. Be (in mind and in the physical) where I need to  be, when I need to be there.  Be good for something and contribute good to the world.

I delight in good things and I believe there are good things to come.

---------------
also see: president hinckley, stand up for truth, byu speeches, 1996