Goodbye "Old" Me!

Do you ever get tired of just being the same person day in and day out?  I'm not saying I wish I was someone else, I just wish that I was a better version of myself.  This is a large desire of mine as a Christian.  I want to make an impact - not so that people who know me will think I'm special, but so that I can go to bed at night knowing that I did what I needed to do for the day to glorify God.  We were created to glorify Him through the good and the bad, through the monotonous daily tasks (like laundry, dishes, etc) and the not so monotonous (like pulling your son off of the cable box for the television and wondering how he even climbed on to it). ;)  We were created to glorify Him in ALL things.  Sometimes  (OK, most times) that is so difficult for me to do.  Each day I try to aim to improve.

Tonight, I was told by a longtime friend that the "old" me would have laughed at something that was actually not that funny.  I was accused of not being able to see the humor and not being lighthearted about this situation.  It bothered me for a few minutes and then it made me think.  A year ago, I would have laughed...I would have thought it was hilarious, but I don't want to be the "old" me.  I like the "new" me better.  The one who is a little more compassionate, a little less judgmental...maybe, just maybe, even a little more Christ-like (though I am NOWHERE near where I should be).  Sure, I still laugh at things I shouldn't, I get worked up and judgmental (as my sister - who I know is reading this - can testify to after the call I made to her on Tuesday complaining about something), and I make a lion's share of mistakes every single day.  I'm not at the point in life - and probably will never be - where I hear bad news and say, "Well, let's praise God first!"  I wish I was...it sure would make my life easier. I don't even know if I am an improved version of myself because I am constantly finding more areas where I am seriously flawed.  However, by the grace of God, and because I have asked Him for His help, He is peeling back the layers, revealing more flaws and helping me to press on, just as Paul wrote in Philippians 3:12-14:

¹² Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

So, to the "old" me, I bid, "Adieu!"  Hopefully, I can say farewell to the "new" me of today in a few months and hello to a "newer," slightly improved me.  (I'm not sure if that statement will even make sense to anyone besides me...ha!)