The New Year brings lots of hope for change, but often convinces us to make unreasonable promises to ourselves. This year, let’s simplify and commit to repeated small steps toward our ultimate purpose.
I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends, and that you have experienced the nearness of Emmanuel this season.
As we enter the New Year, we are often tempted to make huge (sometimes unreasonable) promises to ourselves, unwittingly setting ourselves up to fail.
I don’t want that for you.
Instead, I pray that you stay close to the heart of the Father, asking Him for guidance. I pray that you are intentional to simplify your activities. I pray that you are reasonable and purposeful in setting one daily and one weekly action step that help lead toward your goals, seeking accountability from someone who will help you stay on track.
I pray that in this next season you make the choice to invest in your wellness and your future by trusting a coach who hears from the Lord and desires to help you unlock your purpose.
You can find out more about how I help people with their life purpose right here.
7 helpful tasks for the first week of 2022
An Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
May God be with you and bless you: May you see your children’s children. May you be poor in misfortune, Rich in blessings. May you know nothing but happiness From this day forward.
May the road rise up to meet you May the wind be always at your back May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home And may the hand of a friend always be near.
May green be the grass you walk on, May blue be the skies above you, May pure be the joys that surround you, May true be the hearts that love you
It’s time for those pesky New Year’s Resolutions again. As a blogger, I have the (un)fortunate opportunity to be reminded of previous New Year’s resolutions I’ve put out there in black and white for all to see. All it takes is a little scrolling for me to remember that I talked about enlarging our borders in 2018 and pursuing JOY in 2017. And I feel almost a little sorry for my then-self, who clearly had no idea about the dark corners and jagged cliffs those years would hold. Crisis and fear prowled around waiting to devour innocent resolve, and I had no clue what was coming. Did that make me naive, I wonder? Should I have not bothered?
My flesh a little bit says ‘yes’, but my spirit says, ‘NO!’ (Emphatically, in her biggest girl voice.)
Indeed, I still think it is important to make New Year’s Resolutions. Why bother? And what are mine for 2019? Thank you for asking. 🙂
Why Bother Making New Year’s Resolutions?
Well, I believe goal-setting helps us turn the page with purpose. New Year’s resolutions help us to be more strategic about how we face what is before us. A strategy, according to Merriam-Webster, “is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.” According to Forbes, it is “a framework for making decisions…” It helps us to consider the “why” of our lives as we enter the new year, so we can then chart the course of the “how.” Of course, we all know the challenge of remaining disciplined. But perhaps the gravity and importance of the resolution–its why–may help us. Anything worth becoming is worth working for.
Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible. (Albert Einstein)
Of course, reasonable resolutions may seem more possible than absurd ones. But the absurd are the places where imagination and creativity reside. Where passion and drive pulse.
Past Resolutions about JOY
Let me recount a little about my resolution to pursue JOY in 2017-18. What I thought I would find was more laughter, more light-heartedness, more jovial times. Instead, though, what I found was more steadfastness in pain, more patience in crisis, and a greater ability to remain constant in chaos. In fact, the jovial and light-hearted moments of this year were few and far between, and seemed almost to punctuate sadness. Was this the JOY I was looking for?
Well, no. And yes.
It wasn’t the JOY I was hoping for, but it was JOY that I found.
Paul reminds the Romans to “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12). Interesting how closely he places joy and hope to affliction and prayer. Hmmmm. Almost as if that’s where joy tends to reside.
He had also pleaded with the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: ‘Rejoice!’ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:4-7) Notable, again, how near joy sits to anxiousness and need. And that rejoicing is possibleat all times.
So what about Happiness then?
Back in February of 2017 I wrote about the artificial division we Christians sometimes make between JOY and HAPPINESS. And I considered how God intended them to be intertwined, though they aren’t identical in nature. So now I sit and think about how fleeting moments of happiness have seemed this year, even though I have consistently been strengthened by the JOY of the Lord.
Was I perhaps more strategic in 2018 about pursuing JOY in my need than I was about pursuing HAPPINESS?
But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. (Psalm 68:3)
Choose JOY and Choose HAPPY
My Word for 2019 – HAPPY
In 2019 I am going to be more strategic to choose happy. I am going to look for happiness, document happiness, celebrate happiness, and promote happiness. Through my writing, my leading, my business building, my whatever, I believe I can find the promised happiness of the Lord as I continue to choose joy.
How about you? Do you have a word for 2019? Share in the comments below how you resolve to pursue it in this coming year.
“Auld Lang Syne” and midnight kisses echo in the air long after the streamers and the confetti decorate the floor. Cheeks still hurt from laughter and celebration memories dance loudly in our heads as the page turns decisively into the New Year. It is New Year’s Resolution time. This year is going to be the best yet. 2017 is going to be the year that everything falls into place, that we make the strides forward that we need to make, and that we finally land on the New Year’s resolution that we don’t fail to keep.
How many other years have begun this exact same way?
And yet gym memberships have been forgotten, pounds didn’t melt, and credit card debt still continued to mount. Is it possible for us to enter even the latter weeks of January without feelings of regret about already-broken resolutions and dashed hopes? I believe there is. And it may be that much of it has to do with leaning into the grace and strength of God to pursue resolutions that match His heart for us. Many of the things we resolve to do–and then don’t do–are things that may actually fall into place for us as we (instead) resolve to discover more of Him.
