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Archive for January, 2009

Rough Start to New Year

Jan 10

Posted by wiselad in Personal Development, Work | No Comments

Well, it’s been a rough start to the new year.  I had intentions of managing my time better so that 2009 might be a year of increased productivity for me.  Everything was perfect.  I had looked over my list of goals and was in complete agreement with them and committed to put forth the effort to achieve them.  I even created daily schedules for the workweek, Saturday, and Sunday so that I could better schedule the key routines that serve as the foundation of a life that is not wasted.  My health is good, and I had an optimistic attitude.  But there was just one problem.  Life happened.  The theoretical collapsed into the practical and my plans and schedules and good intentions blew up in my face faster than I could say “Happy New Year”. 

I’m recuperating now.  I’ve just come off a week of work where there were nights that I just slept 3 hrs.  The question that rang in my head was “Why in the hell am I doing this?”.  Maybe I’m still asking this question.  I’m a single guy with no family to take care of, busting my butt, losing sleep, in order to review 100+ page documents so that I can sleep 3hrs to wake up again to review some more 100+ page documents in addition to the 100+ emails that I will receive for the day.  Why?  For what purpose?  Honestly, I’m not fully sure.  I can’t help but think this is a test, like some type of training for bigger things to come.  As if God is saying, “Learn to handle this, and you’ll be able to handle what’s coming”. 

Some would think I’m crazy to be complaining.  I get paid well.  In this economy it’s a blessing just to have work.  I’m very thankful for that.  I could be struggling in many other ways.  And yet, I don’t think my circumstance is any less of a trial.  It is a trial to me precisely because it is trying.  Times like these try my patience and my faith.  Certainly God would want me to have enough time to read his word and do his works, so why would he slam me with so much work?  Maybe I should stop working?

I don’t think that’s the answer.  I think there is a temptation in me to quit when going gets tough.  But that is not what Christ did.  If anyone had the right to complain about circumstances not being fair, it was Jesus.  He really got a raw deal.  He had every right not to be treated the way he was by those who beat and crucified him.  He very well could have quit and decided to make a run for it to Asia.  But he didn’t.  He chose to stay in there even when things were excruciatingly tough.  And he did this by the power of God.  There was a vision that he held to which kept him going.  There was a joy that was set before him, which gave him the strength to persevere in the midst of dire circumstances.  This week was a bad week.  But I’m alive and healthy and my faith is in tact and my optimism is strong.  There will be worse weeks, and I will make it through those as well with my faith and trust in the Lord’s goodness in tact by the same love and grace of God that carried Jesus to and through the cross and ultimately in victory over all that hinders man’s ability to worship God in all his magnificent splendor.

New Year’s Resolution

Jan 1

Posted by wiselad in Uncategorized | No Comments

I am always excited about the new year. This year is no different. It is a time of new beginnings. It is a time to put away the sins and dirt of the past and look forward to a year of victory. It is hopeful and bright and maybe this will be the year that we really start to make progress in our life goals.

Well, the realist in me doesn’t want to get too hopeful about the new year. This is the 28th new year’s day that God has given me the pleasure of experiencing and each one of the past 27 I’ve gone on to fail miserably at achieving my goals for the year. Okay, so I admit, I probably didn’t have too many goals as a toddler, but certainly in my teen years and onward I had them, and inevitably I failed to achieve many of them.

The hardest ones to achieve are the ones that can’t be done in a single exertion.  It’s easy to get up the nerve to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes.  But that’s no one’s new year’s resolution.  People resolve to things like losing 20 pounds this year, or getting a six-pack of abs.  Achieving those goals will take more than a treadmill run or two.  It takes time and it takes discipline. 

Discipline is the dreaded “D” word.  No one is naturally really fond of it.  And yet it is our only hope if we are to keep any of our new year’s resolutions.  And so I am not going into this new year naively thinking that the novelty of the new year will carry enough power to enable me to keep my resolutions.  No, that would be insanity.  But perhaps, by the grace of God, I might be able to parlay some of that new year enthusiasm into creating some routines and schedules that will foster the discipline needed to stick with the daily actions that I need to do in order to uphold my resolutions.  I’ve already started by creating a daily schedule for weekdays and then one for Saturday and one for Sunday.  On each schedule, I’ve put down those daily actions that I believe will enable me to achieve the short and long-term goals that I have for myself.  That way I hope to not leave those things up to chance and spur of the moment inclination. 

So will this all work?  Only time can tell.  Probably in the end, this year will be a mixed result.  But I’m still hopeful.  Though, my 27 years tell me that my hope can’t rest on my own ability, for I’ve proven my aptitude for failure.  My hope has to rest on the one who has always kept his word and who has never failed to accomplish what he has purposed.  His name is Jesus. 

Happy New Years!
Caleb