January 2014
A time of fresh starts and new beginnings.
A time for resolutions and better living.
A time to say hey, this is a new year, I don't have to stay where I'm at. I have the power to move forward.
We say it every year. But why don't we stick with it??? "This year I'm going to loose weight." "This year I'm going to keep the house clean." "This year I'm going to read the bible more." "This year..." "This year..." "This year... things are going to be different." We all say it. Even those skeptical and stubbornly-anti-new-years-resolution-folks, they say it to, they just won't admit it. We all have a desire to be better. We all desire to grow stronger in some way or another. None of us want to be the person that looks back on the past year and says "I am the same person I was last year." We all desire change. So why don't we change??? I think a better question to ask ourselves would be "Why do we change" What drives us to change??? Do you want to loose weight so you can look like you did way back when??? Do you want to read the Bible because it'll make you a better christian??? What is your motivation for change??? Though I'll never admit it beyond this blog, every year I've made resolutions. Even my days of being against resolutions, I've made them... But I never succeeded. Even my resolution to gain weight took about 3 years before progress was made. But why did they fail so consistently??? Why did my failures succeed in telling me that there was no point???

Personally, I think it's because we do it for the wrong reasons. We see the habits that are out there. We admire certain people because they have certain habits under control, and we say hey, This year I'm going to do this. But what we don't do is dedicate ourselves to growth. At some point we have a rough day and decide that relaxing is a priority, then the kids are having friends over so my habits can wait another day. For some, maybe they set their goals too high. They weren't realistic, they weren't practical. For others, maybe they weren't something that was important, maybe they are a quiet reserved person and their goal was to be more open. After a week of trying to step out of their comfort zone, they've realized they don't care. They are happy the way they are and their alone time is more important to them then going to watch a movie with people they may not even know well. Pretty soon all motivation is gone.

What if we stopped making goals that take miracles to achieve. What if we start making goals that are important to us. What if we focused less on what we are trying to achieve, and focus more on why we are attempting to achieve it. What if we line up our actions with our beliefs? What would happen, if rather than seeing an action and trying to believe in it, we instead took our beliefs, and based our actions upon that belief. Upon practicing what we preach. Upon giving up our hypocrisy and focusing on the reason for the season. New Years is about starting fresh and moving forward. In what way are you moving forward this year???