I know that this time of year brings a glut of how to’s and what to’s regarding 2008 handing the baton to 2009. I tend not to involve myself with resolutions and reflections at this time of year for two reasons.
The first is sheer self-preservation. My forced “this is the time of year you make resolutions” resolutions never actually manifest into sustained transformational change. This is likely because they tend to be generated based upon my best (often self-centered) thinking rather than a deeper leading.
The second reason is that, since I came to faith, I’ve been led by the into some kind of spiritual fiscal year. For at least the past three years this resolve/reflect process has been prompted in me somewhere at beginning of the fourth quarter–in the September/October timeframe–rather than at the end of the year. Not sure why that is, but I go with it.