I don’t make New Year resolutions. I don’t. I
just get into the New Year and continue from where I left off the previous
year. I don't make New Year resolutions but I DO set goals for myself to guide
my path into the next season. I may do that in the middle of the year, at the
beginning or whenever. I'm just not into that New Year hysteria that grasps
most of us...
Does that make me
any different? Eh, and does it make me a proud person? Maybe. Am I proud
of it? Yes. Why? I don't know.
As you have already realized, I have decided to do things
differently this year: I chose not to impulsively post in the first week of the year giving you hints on how I/you will run your life this year. I am not God. I
have promised myself not to play God anywhere in your life or mine. Playing God
is tough. I gat no skin for that... God is the only one that knows where we are headed to,
how to go there, when and why... I can't do that... but all I can do is give direction. I can point you/us in a
certain direction using God's words of Wisdom.
So what does that make me? A wise person? No. Wisdom is
overrated. Mostly actually... It just makes me a messenger though: a servant
who also depends on the same instructions I am sent to deliver.
Okay, again, just to remind you; inasmuch as we say God
is in control and we ain't trying to play Him, it does not entirely mean that we have to just sit around and wait for things/life to
happen to us. No. People who do that end up more frustrated with life than you and I who choose to make a few steps or changes in/with
our lives. Such people run around (or hang around) desiring change they cannot achieve. They expect too
much of people and God without proving that they are worthy of the outcome. They
wait for life to be born, fed and clothed
as they watch. That takes forever; and the sad thing about it is that when it happens - when life/God
happens after
that forever - they can’t celebrate it that much... Because it won’t be that
sweet for their celebration.
A victory after a war you have not fought in is not as sweet as that attained
after the struggle of engaging in battle…
Now, considering that it is a New Year, and that learning is one of the
best things that can happen to an individual (especially
one that
seeks to put in practice
whatever they have learned), I will share with you in this month lessons learned from 2014 and tips
that will not only put us
in
perspective with seeing life as “the big picture” it is, but that will also enhance our
personal and spiritual growth. Maybe I'll convince you to be an all-round person who seeks growth in
and out of season. Maybe.
So, to begin with, have you made any New Year resolutions (yet)? Have you promised
yourself to do a few things (God willing) for yourself, for those around you and for God? Do
you have a list (either in your heart/mind or in writing/print) tucked away somewhere? Well, I am here to congratulate
you. You are doing well (at least for now...) and are better than me.
..................................................................
WordWeb Dictionary defines a resolution as “a decision to do something or
to behave in a certain manner”.
With this definition
in mind, it means that we make resolutions all the time (or that we ought to make resolutions all the time). This also makes me wonder why
people go in a frency over a New Year. A New Year is just a continuation
of days from the previous days of a now ending year – but with different dates. We go into a New Year as the same people we were in
the previous year. Nothing changes overnight. Really.
The truth about life is that there are things/resolutions
that you made last year (probably 80% or more) that still stand unresolved or
untouched, or that you tried, reached halfway and lost momentum
to pursue. Also, if you are fond of making deep
reflections on how your life is fairing on, it is likely
that you are disappointed with yourself, with God or with the people around you
that were to be part of the success or completion of those
resolutions. You also are aware that after
attending an overnight prayer meeting (kesha) on New Year's eve, nothing actually changed. It only
helped in changing your attitude for this year, but your life still needs lots of your input.
You see, I'm just aligning you with reality: debts haven't disappeared
(yet), your health still stinks as it was before Christmas, your pockets and
financial life may even be in a worse state than before Christmas, you probably
still own only a pair of shoes (one danging pair!!), your relationships life is
still in a mess, you still have temper/anger issues, trust issues, food issues,
friends issues, church issues, pride issues, boredom issues, lust issues... and
so forth and so on.
That's the reality of things.
But let's twist it a little... What if you really desired change? What
if you chose to pray to the LORD God to help you sort out your wretched life
one piece at a time? What if you forgot about those empty, hysterical and
impulsive New Year urges to make "New Year resolutions" and
sought to do something different? What if you decided to work on your
life diligently and steadily one moment and step at a time? What if you saw
your life with the big picture in mind and not just as an enclosure or a
portrait or a painting within a year? Maybe things would change, right?
That's how I'm convincing you to look at new years. Maybe you'll
have something to celebrate at the end of this one. (For, by the way, there is
always something to celebrate.)
Below, I'm listing things you can promise yourself to do (which are not hard to follow in any way) for your own daily personal growth as you look BEYOND 2015:-
1.
Allow the Lord to deal with you
as He pleases
- As He pleases? Yeah, as He pleases. Or you can try playing God in your
life and see how that ends.
- Where is your level of submission
as far as God and Christian ministry are concerned? Are you promising yourself to consciously serve
more? You should do so.
- Is the LORD alone enough for you
regardless of what happens in/to your life in this year or anytime or do
you think you need more than Him? If the LORD is not what you only need to
move on, then your
focus is blurry and you are
standing or sinking sand.
- There are things that will happen
to your life this year and thereafter that you have no explanation for. Leave it in
the Hands of God. He knows better. He does.
- Promise yourself to understand that God does not move and work out
things in our lives because of how much we know, speak or declare but according
to our faith; that's why righteousness is not the substance of knowledge and
deeds but of faith in what God says concerning us and Himself. We can't impress
God by how much we know but by how much we believe in what He says. So standing
up on the first week of the year to declare things we don't believe can happen
is as futile as flying to Heaven on an aeroplane. It's like chasing after the
wind: useless.
2.
Expect more from God and less
from man
- To get
satisfaction, promise yourself to seek to satisfy others more than you seek to
be satisfied by them.
- Learn that if
you sacrifice and give more more to God and fellow man, you find yourself. You
find God too. And when you find Him, he teaches you to fully put your hope and
trust in Him.
- Leaning on
people will suck the spiritual strength out of you. Know that the closer a
person becomes to you, the more a threat they are to your relationship with God
if they're not helping you move closer to Him.
If
the LORD is not the only one you need for life to move on, then your focus is blurry
and you are standing on sinking sand.
3.
Work around being contended with the little you have as you learn patience
- Mostly, God wants to teach us
three basic things as His children: love, patience
and faith. Our Christian lives move along these
lines. If we keep on failing in perfecting ourselves concerning these three,
our spiritual lives will keep moving in circles and we may not experience
radical growth in anything we do.
- Promise yourself to write down every new gift or blessing you receive
from people and the LORD on your calendar. Give them a unique color. Review them at the end of the year and see how
faithful God has been to you in the year. Then your contentment would have
grown to a whole new level.
4.
Make less promises
to people, except to yourself.
- You’ll be disappointed less in yourself and
you'll let no-one down. You'll feel less guilty and become less depressed.
- At least you
won't be playing God, so you'll become humble as the days go by.
5. A
change of attitude at any time of the year is far greater than 20 untouched New
Year resolutions
- The proud and arrogant person always
thinks that the only way to see the world clearly is through their own eyes. Yet
the more we learn to see the world around us differently, the better we become
at serving it and wanting to change it.
- A change in attitude changes everything. It
changes how we love people, how we respond to situations, how we relate with
God, how we live in our new environments. It changes everything around us. Everything.
- Change yourself first. After that, the world will take
care of itself.
6. Nothing
will change unless we take/make a step to change it first.
- You
only win a race you compete in. Cheerleaders are part of the team yeah, but
cheerleaders never receive the award; so stop being a spectator expecting stuff
to change and benefit you when you haven't worked or participated in it.
- Life
needs a makeover from time to
time; it's sad that we get lost
in the obvious until we miss what
we should get in our seasons of
change. It's only when we learn to adapt to and celebrate change that we bring
change.
- Practically,
if you’re a fan of romance and fantasy
books and novels or movies and TV series, you should promise yourself to read
more of Christian literature and watch more of faith-oriented movies not just
this year but throughout your life. This is change. I also want us to
understand that some goals go beyond a year. Growth is not a one year thing.
Growth is eternal. Change too, is eternal.
Growth is eternal. Change too, is eternal.
7. Keep the list of
your goals simple, doable and measurable.
- Unrealistic
goals will make you think you're a failure, while in true sense you may not be.
This is why I prefer calling what most people call "resolutions",
goals. Calling them "goals" (and I may only have one goal per season)
makes it easier to spot them and run towards accomplishing them.
- You may write
down your resolutions/goals in bullet format on your phone/tablet/computer
calender app. I always feed them into the 1st January slot, and once
accomplished, I come back and check them by indicating the date the goal was fulfilled.
You can always scroll back and see your progress as the days go by. A goal set
last year may as well be achieved this year. In such a case, enter in both
slots of 1st January, 2014 and 1st January, 2015 to show you how long it has
taken to work it out.
8. All the goals we
set are beyond our natural abilities to enact or achieve, so consult the LORD
- You wanna get
married this year yet you don't have a boy/girlfriend? Don't you think that
requires God? Yes?
- You want to buy
land and build a home? Involve God.
- You want to
further your education and pay your own fees? Involve God.
- You want to
finish school, get employed and enjoy life? Involve God.
No goal we set (even that which we think we can
accomplish on our own like taking our better halves for a date night) can be
fruitful without involving God. He knows the way, so why not let Him lead?
This ain't the
end.
I'll be back.
Bonface
Morris.
