Life Boat #14

It's a New Year and a chance for new beginnings. It's the closing of 2011 and the opening of 2012. Last year was the first year I'd ever made a New Year Resolution. It was kind of a big one so I made it to myself only, unlike following the masses and telling everyone. Last year, I resolved to try to start a family again. Last year, I was among the few who were successful. Even if I hadn't given birth to the most darling little girl the earth has ever seen, I still would have been successful because I used the word try. This year, I am going to try to do something different, something better, with my life. This year, my resolution is influence, inspired even, by history (as well as today's church sermon which is where I was reminded of this bit of history).

Titanic lifeboat #14 was the only lifeboat to return to the mass of drowning Titanic passengers to make the attempt to rescue any of them from the frigid, northern Atlantic water. The passengers of lifeboat #14 ran the risk of being capsized by the hundreds of people who were panicking, freezing and dying. The passengers of lifeboat #14 decided that the lives of those in the water were more important than their risk of joining them in the water. To the people they rescued, the passengers of lifeboat #14 were heroes.

This year, I resolve to try to be a lifeboat #14, in every way. I will try to always remember to act on the God-given opportunities to minister to another person. I will try to always remember to carry a little extra change in case I come across someone in need. I will try to remember to give cheerfully to those I can give and to help cheerfully those who are in need, no matter how small. I will try to remember to always pay it forward. If someone treats me with an act of kindness, I will try to use that act as a reminder to treat others in return.