Happy New Year
Welcome to 2014 a year of change, or at least we hope so. We all want change in our life in one category or another. We know that we are not the people we could or maybe even want to be. Which means now is the time for resolutions, primarily maybe; I will not drink again like I did New Year’s Eve.
We all know the statistics that resolutions are rarely ever followed but we still know this is a new year, a chance for a fresh start.
2014 already?!?
We are now in 2014, even just the sound of that sounds futuristic. Is it just another day? a meaningless counting system? or a time for change? I can’t help but think about all the movies that imagined this time period as something grand, and different. Doc Brown would be quite disappointed if he travelled to the future and saw our society.
Our society and our lives are probably very different than we expected, but growth doesn’t happen automatically. Life doesn’t get better on its own, it takes a decision to change. You have to move a direction if you want to end up in a place worth being.
I am writing this on January 2nd and I know most New Years resolutions have already been broken, and others haven’t gotten around to make them yet. We get stuck in a routine and it’s hard to break that but that same ability for routine could be what helps us change (more on that later).
Opportunities
In the movie Evan Almighty, Morgan Freeman playing God shares some surprising insight. When “Noah’s” wife (Evan in the movie) shares about this crazy thing her husband is doing by building an ark, Freeman shares the following:
“Sounds like an opportunity. Let me ask you something. If one prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If they pray for courage, does God give them courage, or does he give them opportunities to be courageous? If one prayed for their family to be closer, you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunities to love each other? ”
Life is about Opportunities
As a minister I don’t consider it my job to change people’s lives, It is not even my job to help people. It is my job to give people an opportunity to help themselves. I give them an opportunity to be loved, an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to know God. I can not force them, for you can only force people negatively, to move positive it takes a decision from within.
Freedom means Freedom to Fall
God has given us freedom to fall, to lay down, and to die. He has also given us freedom to walk, to get up, and to live. New Years is another opportunity, it’s an opportunity to change your life. Nothing about the day, or year has to change for you to change. Even while you are reading this you are being given an opportunity.
The change comes from with in but is maintained by routine.
Today isn’t only the 2nd day of the year 2014 it is also my father’s Birthday. My father is now 61 years old, and has abs of steel. I still am shocked every time I see him with his shirt off. He isn’t without injury but still manages to go on long bike rides, swim a mile, and do 100 pull ups in a work out. Working out with him today I can personally attest to the fact that he pushes himself, I couldn’t even finish the workout. Still he isn’t in the shape that he is in because he pushes himself. The difference between my father and everyone else including myself is…consistency.
He works out regularly because his body is his temple. He eats right because his body is a temple. He reads his bible every day because the Spirit is more important than the body. He prays and worships every day because that is the purpose of his life. He has done these things longer than I have been alive. He is able to maintain because he has a routine.
My New Years resolution: Be more like my Dad
If you want to change your life don’t just make resolutions, make changes. Small attainable goals that you can build on. Research has shown that if you tie in a new positive habit with one you already have you are more likely to maintain it. Above all else don’t make the end your goal, like you are trying to climb to the top of a mountain. If you do then what direction will you head from there? Instead make your goal consistency.
Consistency takes Time
Consistency: steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.: There is consistency in his pattern of behavior.
It takes time to establish any pattern. Instead on waiting to accomplish some impossible task if your goal is consistency than every day that you follow your plan you are already successful. You can give yourself time, and patience because it isn’t about where you are on the journey its the fact that you are walking.
Routinely Mundane or Revolutionary
Routines don’t have to be boring, or stationary. You just have to remember what direction you want to walk. In 2014 decide what direction you want to take, and start a new routine you never know where you may end up.
