It’s a new year—well, thirty days into a new year. I purposely avoided writing earlier this month because I didn’t want to think about new year’s resolutions or dieting or what I will do better this year.

But darned if I can’t get away from it.

I have to admit that 2011 wasn’t necessarily a banner year. It had its ups and definitely its downs. Some amazing highlights, but also some deep darkness. Self-doubt. Frustration. Fear. Depression. Sorrow. Days and days of barely coping.

Surely you understand.

So many people in my world faced difficult things in 2011—friends and family suffered through trauma, sorrow, fear, loss of friendships, betrayal, and big questions for God about how their past and their present can possibly come together and make any kind of sense in the future.

And I had many of those same questions. Suffice it to say, I want this year to have a little more brightness.

Alas, no amount of resolutions can keep bad things from happening. I can resolve to have a better year, but I don’t know what the next eleven months will bring.

So I don’t make new year’s resolutions. But I’ve certainly thought about a few things that might help this year be better—or at least help me react correctly to whatever God sends my way. I thought about this after reading my sister’s recent blog. She’s decided to purge from her life things that shouldn’t be there. (Go to my blogroll to the right and click on “Carol Fielding Blog.” Then subscribe!). She challenges us to “define necessity.”

So that’s what my husband and I are working to do. There are things we need to clean out of our lives, things we need to let go of, things we need to do better—for ourselves, for each other, for our family.

Sometimes we let things into our lives that shouldn’t be there. Sometimes we are, as my sister describes it, “drowning in stuff.” It could be physical stuff sitting around our homes crowding our focus; it could be negative attitudes crowding out our joy; it could be wrong actions taking our lives in wrong directions. We need to get rid of that “stuff” and get ourselves back on track so we can move forward with our focus on what’s most important. We need to “define necessity.”

What about you? What is taking your focus away from what’s most important? What is distracting you from your path? What do you need to purge from your life to keep you moving forward?

Sometimes that’s what it takes. I can’t control what happens in 2012, but I can do my best to stay where I need to be—close to my heavenly Father.

We’ve got some exciting and wonderful things happening this year and we intend to enjoy every moment. Actually, I would say that is what’s most important. There are only 365 days in this year (well, now there are 334) and it is absolutely a necessity that I enjoy every blessing God has given me.

That’s what I want for you, too.