According to the Mayan calendar, the world will end this year. Now, I’m no expert in Mayan culture, but I’m not too concerned. We live close to the heart of the Mayan lands, and there are lots of Mayan descendants in parts of Central America. None of them seem too concerned. There are no volcanoes erupting (that happened a few years ago), and there haven’t been too many earthquakes (other than the usual weekly ones) so I’d say it’s looking pretty good that the world will make it to 2013.

The whole thing is kind of silly, but it got me thinking. What if the world was going to end this year? What if we knew for sure that we only had until December of this year to restore broken relationships, grow our kids into who we want them to be, and make sure that we are where God wants us to be. Would I do anything differently if I knew that I only had 12 more months to finish my job on earth? Do I feel the urgency?

It’s a lot easier to feel that urgency when it comes to our work with the kids in this country. Murder rates are high among teenagers and young adults, and intervening in lives can be the difference between life and death.  It’s easy to feel that driving tension to step it up, to go the extra mile.

But I fall short so many times in my personal life.  I rush my kids, or skip a moment with them. I stress about the details and forget to encourage them. I lose patience with my husband, and I worry about insignificant things. I lack the urgency to speak with kindness, and to love unselfishly. The daily routine gets in the way of giving the best person I can to my family and closest friends.

I’m not really into making resolutions…mostly because I always break them. But I am into getting a new perspective and making a choice to use each day as an opportunity to serve God by serving my family and all of those around me in a better, kinder, and more loving way.

So, what about you? What would you do if you only had 12 months to live? Get to it, and live like it’s…2012???