A new year is a great time to let go and look ahead.
Most of us have a love-hate relationship with our New Year’s resolutions. We make them. We break them. This year I’m doing something different. Rather than setting a specific tangible goal, like writing 2,000 words a day or eating fish twice a week, I’m resolving to look inward. Will you consider joining me on this journey?
Be retrospective.
Begin with a gaze back at last year’s disappointments. Have we let go of the washouts, or not? If not, are those broken dreams or unrealized goals attainable in the year ahead, or is now the time to write them off and start afresh?
Question bitter feelings.
Some of us could be carrying feelings of betrayal into the new year. Unresolved anger can keep us trying to figure out why something this bad happened when there’s rarely a satisfactory answer to be found. Instead, let’s resolve to let go of every bitter remnant. Ditch them. Walk into the new year free of those filthy bags.
Apply forgiveness to self and others.
Like cleaning house, the mind needs sprucing up, too. If we never swept the kitchen floor, took cobwebs down from the ceilings, or cleared the clutter, our homes would become unsanitary places to live. Forgiveness is the broom God’s given us to sweep the soul clean and clear the spider webs floating through our minds.
It’s been said that “attitude is everything.” There’s truth in those words. The mind is truly a marvelous thing. Our thought life will change if we resolve it to do so.
We possess power.
We have power enough to make positive change possible—and since we do, we should. January is a great time to stop accepting an unsuitable status quo. Yes, our trigger points will get pushed in the year ahead. Expect that to happen. Expect not to like it. But decide in advance to offer grace and not over-react.
Look inward again.
Take an honest assessment of self-destructive habits, relationship issues, financial struggles, lifestyle choices, or work related difficulties. Perhaps make this the year to confront these hard issues in respectful ways. Otherwise they become gatecrashers that steal the harmony we so desire to maintain.
Perhaps we should apply Paul’s wisdom: But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13b-14
Now we can look at the year ahead.
We can look at the year ahead and anticipate good to show up. Let’s enter the year believing God has a good plan for our lives; one that is brimful of redeeming hope and promise-laden purpose. He gives us this promise in Jeremiah 29:11.
Out with the old familiar ways and in with the new.
It sounds so simple, but it takes deliberate resolve to follow through. If you’d like to be a more Christ-like you in the New Year, I invite you to take this challenge with me. To achieve this goal, I’ve made two lists. One is for what I want to let go of—the other pinpoints new habits I want to implement in the year ahead. A couple of mine are:
Let go of:
1) My right to feel angry, 2) Impatient thoughts
New Habits to Switch on:
1) Anger is a choice I make, 2) Activate a more helpful response
I echo the words of Leslie Ramirez Lazaro in her devotion titled, “New Year, Same God.”[1] This quote is from her day three post. “I’m hoping all of us could start a year of blessings, not doubts. This is a year of trust, not fear.”
Let’s make this the Happiest, most trusting-in-Jesus year ever!
Prayer: Lord, You know how easy it is for us to carry disappointments and hurts into a new year. Yet, Your Word tells us to cast our anxiety upon You. Help us to remember You want to carry our troubles. We were never meant to juggle our problems in our own strength. Prompt us to regularly seek Your counsel in the New Year. Help us to let go of anything that hinders our ability to grow in Christ. We pray for thought lives that honor You; and for mercy and grace to reign in abundance among us. In You all things are possible. Amen
[1] https://aboutlesslier/.web.app/
Coaches Corner——
This month the focus is to be proactive. Let’s choose to stop doing what isn’t producing positive results. If you’d like a life coach to help you let go of fruitless, repetitive cycles, I’d be honored to come alongside you. Contact me at https://www.rebuildingfamilies.net/life-coach/. The first 30 minute online session is always free.
