{Hello, 2017}

The holidays have come and gone. We spent so much time in preparation for their arrival only to have them pass in a flash...

The used wrapping paper has been disposed of, the Christmas decorations are tucked away and stored until next time {or at least that’s what I’ve heard - our tree is still currently sharing it’s beauty in our living room.} The holiday parties have passed, the streamers and kazoos thrown away. We’re just barely beyond the holidays, but their departure is keenly felt. Vacation time is almost over - adults are heading back to work and students are being called back to the classrooms. We may have started a new year, but most things remain the same.

*Photo found on Pinterest

But not all things.

A vast number of people have decided that there are some things in their lives that need to change, so they’ve made New Year’s Resolutions. One statistic I read said that the number of Americans that usually make these resolutions is 45%. For whatever reason, that’s really cool to me. Maybe it’s because I’ve personally never made one, which means I’m like 38% of Americans according to that same report.

I started to wonder about why I’ve never really gotten in on this ritual. Why do I see or hear about others making their resolutions, but I don’t join in? The answer I came up with is this: “New Year’s Resolution” and “failure” tend to be synonymous in my head. 

Did you know that, according to what I’ve read, only 8% of Americans who make a resolution are successful in achieving their goals? That’s a crazy small percentage! It actually kind of makes my heart hurt to think about all the people who want to make a change in their lives, but just can’t seem to get past whatever stands in their way. I don’t know who you may be, but I want you to succeed!

So I decided to leave my 38% comfort zone and join you 45%ers. 

Because I’ve never made a resolution of my own, I asked Google what the top 10 New Year’s resolutions are. {What did people do before Google??}  After reading through the different items, I picked out the ones that stood out among the rest and tweaked them to fit my own life. So, Friends, here’s my very first list of New Year’s Resolutions (in no particular order.)

• See the world Super-natural - while I think the earth is beautiful and has many wonders to behold, I know there are so many things happening outside of the natural that I’m not seeing and that fascinates me. I want new eyes so that I can see angels and witness His glory surrounding me. I want what happened to Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6:17. The servant wasn’t blind, so when Elisha prayed for his eyes to be opened, he was meaning the servant’s spiritual eyes. I want that. I want to look beyond the natural and see the super-natural.

• Organize my life Declutter my mind - we allow so many distractions into our lives, don’t we? Our attention is being pulled in so many different directions that it can be hard to focus on the things that matter. The Word says we are to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2). It also says that we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2). I want to kick out the wrong thoughts or thinking patterns that have made themselves far too comfy in my head so that my mind is freed of anything that pulls it’s attention away from the Lord.

• Spend Assume less & save Love more - there have been times I've been convicted of a judgmental attitude. Moments when I’ve had a thought immediately followed by a tiny prick feeling to my heart, something I recognize as the Spirit’s correction. I’m not talking about judging someone’s actions as either right or wrong, but rather about judging someone’s heart. It’s when I start assuming that I know the why behind a person’s actions without ever having them tell me their side that I cross over into a judgmental spirit towards them. I don’t want to do that. I want to follow the commandment given in John 13:34: I want to love them with a genuine and pure love, like Christ. People are beautiful, but I miss out on that when my eyes are murky with assumptions. 

• Lose weight bitterness - it’s a heavy weight when we carry bitterness in our hearts, isn’t it? When we refuse to let it go and forgive our offenders because they’ve yet to offer an apology for how they’ve wronged us. We feel we deserve that acknowledgment from them before we offer our forgiveness. Or sometimes we feel the apology they did offer wasn’t sincere enough, that they don’t seem genuinely sorry, so we continue to withhold forgiveness. Do you know who that actually hurts? Us. I don’t want to lug around unnecessary weight any longer. “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven..” - Proverbs 17:9. I want to let go of any past offenses and move forward without picking up any more. I want to live un-offendable.

• Quit smoking quitting - a bit oxymoron-ish, yeah? Stick with me for a second…when things get hard, I tend to retreat. I want space and time away from it all to gather my thoughts and process everything. That’s just my personality, the way God wired me. It’s not a bad thing in general, but the part that becomes a problem is when, in my retreat, I forget to keep living. I stop talking, reaching out to friends, and engaging in my relationships. I let my fingers stop typing and my brain says no to writing. In essence, I quit living the life God’s called me to live because I let life get in the way. I want to quit doing those unhealthy quits and only do ones that are good for me. I want to throw off the things that weigh me down and hinder me, running the race that God has set before me (Hebrews 12:1-3).

*Photo found on Pinterest

Here we are, Friends, at the start of a new year. It’s a year made up of months, which in turn are made up of weeks broken down into days that can be taken hour by hour or even minute by minute. It’s a whole year wide open before us, a year that nobody has yet seen. This new year is untouched, undiscovered; it has yet to be lived. It’s a whole new adventure awaiting people brave enough to take it on.

For those of you who've made a resolution, I'm rooting for you. I pray this is the year each of you is able to succeed in making your dreams a reality. May we blow the success rate statistic out of this world, so that when we hear New Year's Resolution it's no longer synonymous with failure.

May the God of peace,...equip you with

everything good for doing his will, and may he

work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus

Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 (Hebrews 13:20-21MSG)