He doesn't label them resolutions because we all know what happens to resolutions; they are simply hopes for the coming year.

12 hopes

Shane Claiborne

I hope to...

12.  Do something really nice – that no one knows about.

11. Spend more money on other people than I spend on myself.  Love my neighbor as I love myself.  And love myself as I love my neighbor.

10. Laugh often… especially at advertisements that try to convince me that I must buy more stuff in order to be happy.

9. Learn a new life skill – like carpentry, pottery, or canning vegetables.  Teach someone else I life skill I know how to do.

8.  Love a few people well, remembering that what is important is not how much we do but how much love we put into doing it.

7.  Write a letter to someone I need to say thank you to.  Write another letter to someone I need to ask to forgive me.

6.  Track down a critic or someone I disagree with and take them to lunch.  Listen to them.

5.  Compliment someone I have a hard time complimenting… and mean it.

4.  Choose life.  Do something regularly to interrupt the patterns of injustice – do something to end violence, bullying, and other mean and ugly things.

3.  Pause before every crisis and ask “will this matter in 5 years?”

2.  Get outside often and marvel at things like fireflies and shooting stars.  And regularly get my hands into the garden… so when I type on the computer I can see dirt under my fingernails.

1.  Believe in miracles.  And live in a way that might necessitate one.

What are you hoping to be this year?

Grace, Steve