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