So, this is the New Year, and I don’t feel any different. A few days ago, it was 2018 and now it is 2019, and the hardest part will be remembering to write the date correctly, so I don’t have a scribbly nine written over an eight. For some reason, we as a society have deemed January 1 as the best day to make a big change in your life. New Year, New Me: I’m going to stop doing this. New Year, New Me: I’m going to start doing that. New Year, New Me: I’m going to moderately adjust how I do the other thing.
January seemingly comes out of nowhere, emerging from a haze of quality eating, time with loved ones, and the aftereffects of too much holiday cheer and hits you in the face. After the holiday season, that is Halloween to New Year’s, you hit January. There are no big party holidays, you have to take down decorations, and you’re getting into peak winter grossness where everything is just wet, cold, and dreary.
It is from this haze that we try to make big decisions for how we will live the rest of our year. We call these New Year ideas our resolutions, a firm decision to do or not to do something. We want to stop a bad habit or start a good one. Too often we set ourselves up for failure by setting an unreachable goal as our resolution. We think of an end goal we’d like to reach and feel disappointed when we don’t make it. We want to jump to the top of the mountain or the end of the journey. We want to skip the hard part.
We need to find a path to them rather than just hoping we end up there one day. Psalm 37:23-24 says, “The steps of a man/woman are established by the Lord, when he/she delights in his way; though he/she fall, he/she shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his/her hand.” Sometimes life changes through leaps and bounds, more often it happens by putting one foot in front of the other, getting a little closer every day. We will probably stumble along the way, nevertheless, we will not be cast away because we can lean on the Lord.
As you head into 2019 instead of several lofty goals ask yourself one question: What is the next right thing I can do?
And then do it!