We just started a new year, which is usually when people decide they are going to change big things about themselves and their lifestyles. Does this sound familiar? You tell yourself that you are going to wake up early to go to the gym however many days a week and eat super healthy. Then by the end of January, you are sleeping in every day and getting fast food for every meal. Or maybe you are going to watch less TV and read more but by March, you are back into the habit of turning the TV on when you get home from work every day. Or maybe you told yourself that this is the year you are finally going to finish a Bible reading plan, but by February you are already 2 weeks behind and losing hope of catching up, which just discourages you from even trying anymore.
That is not what we are talking about today. This week, we wanted to give you an opportunity to reflect with us on the last year and think about what we want to keep in mind during the next year. Elizabeth, Katelyn, and I recently had a conversation about this. While looking back on the last year, our one requirement was that instead of thinking about what went wrong through the year, we focused on what went well and what God taught us. And then we talked about how we want to take what God has taught us into the new year. Whether it is trusting His timing more, knowing that He lets us go through hard times for a reason, remembering that He loves us and is always there, or whatever else God has taught you over the past year, how can you start changing your mindset to remember that in the coming year?
Do you feel like God has to keep teaching you the same lesson every year? I totally get that! I feel like anytime someone asks me what God has been teaching me that my answer is always the same, but I just have a different life example to go with it. My hope for the coming year is to remember this lesson when I get in situations where I am tempted to forget it, or at least remember it sooner than I usually would.
Maybe you have set a New Year’s resolution and you really want to stick to it this time. That is great! This may be the year that you learn more about God’s grace and learn to have grace for yourself when you slow down and are tempted to stop working on your resolution for the year. That is what I am hoping for myself this year. I have some goals and habits I want to create or change and I know that it will be hard to keep going at times, but I know that God gives us grace when we mess up and I can give myself grace too.
Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us “To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” This is our calling as followers of Christ in general and I really want to focus on that this year. There are so many things in this world that will distract us and try to keep us in an “old self mindset” and it can be easy to fall back into old habits at any point, but when we spend consistent time with God, we can get better at combating that.
Starting a new year is always exciting and can be the motivation we may think we need to change, but I want to remind you that we can change at any point in the year. If you can remember it, think back to when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I am really hoping that you accepted Him right away when you felt your need for Him instead of saying that you would trust Him the next year once January 1st came around. We can do the same thing with anything in life. In December, I kept hearing people say that you don’t have to wait for the new year to take your faith more seriously or to start working out or whatever you wanted to start doing. I like that idea. Even though the new year may give us an extra motivation to start new habits, we can decide to change anytime. It may be the middle of the year, middle of the month, middle of the week, even the middle of the day. You may decide that you are going to cut out your lunchtime coffee or stop looking at your phone before bed (both good things to do for your health anyway), and that can start right away. Or if you decide you want to start reading your Bible again, do it right then! If your desire is to start becoming more like Jesus, maybe start off by skipping the lunchtime gossip or go home after work and make dinner for a struggling family at church.
In every change we make, though, let’s remember to give ourselves grace and know that building new habits takes time and consistent effort.
Happy New Year!
Abbi