10 Ways to Make 2020 Matter

The years fly off the calendar any more. Wasn't it just 2017? 

And as the years disappear, so have many people in our lives. 2019 left a hole in our family.

Perhaps it's my perception of the relentless march of time or perhaps it's the loss of people important  to us, but the need to make every year matter seems increasingly necessary.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

But as I look down the next 365 days, I'd like every one to matter. Who knows? Perhaps this year will only have 263. How can we live every day to its maximum potential? Here are some thoughts to consider to make 2020 a year that matters ... 

• Step out of your comfort zone. My living room is my comfort zone. So I need to get off the couch and get out. Do something for the world that requires some courage, some initiative, and a little thinking outside the box. Volunteer to build houses with Habitat for Humanity in West Virginia or teach in a school in Central America or help in a soup kitchen in Scranton. Think out of your neighborhood, out of your socio-cultural milieu, out of the country. Live sacrificially.
• Give ... to the local homeless shelter or food bank, to your church, to a needy single mom.
  
  Give coats, gloves, hats, toiletries, and bedding to organizations like the Women's Resource Center or the Catherine McAuley Center. Give to worthwhile children and teen programs, like CareNet and Youth for Christ. Give your time and energy  to fix a broken door knob for a single woman or babysit for a mother of toddlers or take an older person to the doctor and out to lunch. Selflessness is the key.
• Begin a new friendship with an elderly person in a nursing home or a shut-in on your street, with a foreign university student who needs help with his English or an immigrant mom who is having trouble buying groceries in her new culture, with the children of a single mom, with the new family in the neighborhood.
• Cultivate old friendships. Facebook your college roommate, whom you haven't
  
  seen in 4 decades, and plan a get-together. Skype your cousin in Scotland. Email your high school chums for a lunch date. Seek one-on-one time with your old friends. Maybe meet every week with that one soul sister whose encouragment never fails.
• Use your creativity. Build furniture, write a book,  knit for veterans in the local veterans' hospital, paint your bedroom or a picture, sew a quilt, fix the car, make jewelry, bake. Use your creativity to brighten someone's day.
• Read. A lot. Magazines, newspapers, biographies, novels. Keep challenging your mind
  with information. Join a book club where you can discuss ideas.
• Walk ... in places that draw your heart to reflection and awe and fire your brain with the
  
  grandeur of the Creator God. Walk the beach, walk the woods, walk at the lake. Walk at Lackawanna State Park. The park has 80 miles of trails. My grandson and I have made it our goal to walk all of them together. We've been doing it for 3 years and marking our completed trails on the park map. This year, we'll keep walking. Look up on your trek to the beauty around you.
• Plan family events. Big ones, like Olympic games in the backyard, with the
  
  kids, grandkids, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Include  a campfire and a karaoke competition. Or a camping trip, a day at Knobel's, a raft trip on the Delaware. Do some creative planning so no one will forget that family time. Or small family times, like a movie, a board game, a special themed dinner. Make memories this year with the ones you love.
• Invest in the children of your family. Get down on your knees with those kids or grandkids and play Hot Wheels or baby dolls or pony ranch or whatever they want for an hour - without leaving the room or going for coffee. 
• Get to know God. If you haven't been to church in 50 years, go ... time's running out.
  
  If you have deep soul questions that have never been answered about God, let me know ... I can hook you up with someone who can help. If you've accepted Jesus as your Savior Redeemer, walk more deeply into relationship with Him. If you know Him, heaven is your final destination. Make getting to know God the ultimate goal of your year ... after all, this year may only contain 169 days.

And in everything, give thanks. Grateful living changes attitude and perspective.

Looking to make 2020 a year that matters ...

On Layton.