Saturday, January 14, 2012

NEW YEARS HOPE & RESOLUTIONS

NEW YEAR'S HOPE & RESOLUTIONS

The start of a new year is full of new hopes and goals.  People begin to think in advance of things they wish to accomplish, change, break, rebuild and commit to. 

This concept of New Year’s resolutions is not a new concept.  The ancient Babylonians use to make promises to their gods at the start of each year.  These promises were to pay back debts and return borrowed objects.  The Romans use to begin each year by making promises to the god Janus, for which the month of January is named after.  Then in the Medieval era, the knights took the “peacock vow” at the end of Christmas to re-affirm their commitment to the chivalry.  Many religious parallels to this tradition have formed over the years. 

One of the first greatest movement of New Year’s resolutions occurred after the Great Depression.  So much had been lost and taken and Americans began to form new ideas and commitments which raised their hope for a better year to come.  This idea stuck with them and they passed it on for generations to come. 

Most people seem to pick things they feel they have the most control over but for whatever reason seem to neglect the most in their lives.  Most resolutions seem to be to lose weight, exercise more, eat better, drink less alcohol, quit smoking, improve finances, save money, obtain a better job, go back to school, manage time, spend more time with family, organize life, and volunteer more.  These resolutions over the last century have become more superficial and much less successful.  Over 80% of resolutions fail within the first 3 months of the year.  We get busy with life, forget, or we get frustrated because we set a yearly goal that in the back of our head we feel should be accomplished much sooner than that.

With all this in mind I sat down and looked at various areas in my life and things that I had going on.  I looked at the path I was on and where I saw myself in a year from now.  I looked at many changes I was making and trying to incorporate into my life and the life of my kids.  I prayed, and I spoke with others about different ideas.  I sat down put my life into boxes, my priorities into boxes, and my thoughts into words.    

Keep in mind, I am nor have I have been one to partake in the New Year’s resolutions; however I thought I would give it some thought this year. This is what I have come up with so far based on my weaknesses, strengths, desires, passion, abilities, and overall life.

Since I am a control addict my main area for a resolution is to BE MORE SUBMISSIVE TO GODS WORD/WILL AND PLAN.  Question less and accept more.  This might take me a few years, but once I gain this understanding I feel I will have less stress and frustration overwhelming my day in and day out routine life.

My next thought/resolution is to ACTIVELY PURSUE GODS KINGDOM AND WILL.  I read all the time.  However, I often forget to implement what I read and what I know to be true into my life.   By doing this, I will bring meaning and a satisfaction to my life above and beyond what anything else on this earth could provide me.  In this resolution I need to focus on paying God first, sharing God’s love,  fueling my spirit abundantly so I have plenty to share and use to expand God’s kingdom, commit to that mission trip I have been talking about for years now, and practice being a visual disciple of God’s love instead of one who says and knows yet doesn’t show.  GET A LITTLE CRAZY WITH MY FAITH.  

Then my final thing is to FOCUS ON PRAYER AND COMMUNICATION WITH GOD AND SHOW MORE GRATITUDE. 

I feel that by doing these things any other resolutions I could make will be fulfilled in ways that I could not possible imagine.  I do still have the same thoughts or resolutions as others below these things such as make my new marriage a priority and communication a must not an option, finish school, find that meaningful job, raise my kids and implement God into their lives in new ways, and many others things.  However, if by choosing to live God’s way instead of my way (this is huge for me) then I feel these things will naturally fall into place and will be blessed or taken care of by God’s hands and not mine.  And I have to admit His promises and commitments never fail and mine quite frequently fail or get forgotten.   So to bottom line this………ACTIVELY LIVE GOD’S WAY AND NOT MY WAY!