Hallelujah...

"Resolution one: I will live for God."
 Resolution two: If no one else does, I still will." 
                                -Jonathan Edwards

The New Year is officially here, and while I do not make resolutions as such, I do try to find one word that will be my theme throughout the new year.  Last year my word was "purge."  I purged closets, drawers, storage sheds, and much more, but probably not enough.  Maybe my word should have been "ruthless" purge.  Maybe more would have made its way out the door.  We still have a home where I wonder how in the world the kids used to live here.  Warren and I have taken over every room and closet with our things.  How we ever had room for our children is beyond me.

This year, my word is not one, but two words: "Alter Me."  I decided on it after working on an art journal project.  "Altered books" are very popular in the Art Journaling world right now.  What is an altered book?  It is using an old book and altering it into another book, usually a journal.  Scraps of Time, http://scrapsoftime.typepad.com, does some fantastic altered books.  I would like to have one of her journals, but I can never seem to get online before it is sold. (the ones I like).  With an altered book, it can remain the same on the outside, but have the inside completely transformed, it can have both inside and outside transformed, or portions of each.  Using the concept of altered books, I want to be altered in 2013--to conform and be transformed more into the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.  I so want Christ to move in, and through me in all areas of my life: emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

I was listening to the radio station, KLOVE, http://www.klove.com, yesterday when they played a Christmas song, yes still in January...it is the longest running Christmas song after Christmas, with altered lyrics from the secular song sung by Leonard Cohen, which I love.  Mr. Cohen's song, Hallelujah, has been a favorite of mine for a long time...but the Jeff Buckley version, that is until I heard this version.  It is Christ's story...the Christmas story and more.  The Christmas season and story should not be just for Christmas, it should be celebrated and remembered all year.  We think of the New Year as a new beginning, but in reality, our New Beginning begins when we become Christ's.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, the new is here!" (2 Cor. 5:17).  This year, 2013, I want to be altered like the books, like this song, and be transformed by Christ in ways I cannot imagine, for His glory and use.

Enjoy!
The Hallelujah Christmas, by Cloverton.