My Resolution Solution
by Toby Graham
This is the first year I didn’t make New Year’s resolutions. It’s so unlike me. Each year I write out categories with extensive, detailed subcategories to list all my goals for the year. In case you can’t tell, I’m very goal-oriented. Having resolutions has always kept me focused, determined, and motivated throughout the year! But this year, I’m not making any resolutions. It’s not because I don’t care, it’s because I’m even more determined than before! It hit me in church recently when my pastor and father-in-law said something that gave me a resolution solution. It was a simple thought, and a simple solution. He said “the thing about the future is… it happens one day at a time.” It was then that I realized I didn’t need resolutions. The future is happening right now! I don’t want to plan the future out in hyper-organized subcategories, I want to live it now. We get one short life here on Earth… one chance to experience it to the fullest… one chance to make an impact on others… and perhaps one chance to do all those things we keep thinking of doing. The Bible even tells us in James 4 that our life is just as a vapor. It is here for a little while, and then vanishes away. Ecclesiastes 11:7-8 (The Message) says it like this: Oh, how sweet the light of day, And how wonderful to live in the sunshine! Even if you live a long time, don't take a single day for granted. Take delight in each light-filled hour, Remembering that there will also be many dark days And that most of what comes your way is smoke. So I am motivated now more than ever to live this life I’ve been blessed with. I’m going to take the picnic I always say I’m going to take. I’m going to hug my family a little tighter. I’m going to reach out to my widow neighbor. I’m going on the trip to How about you? Are you living for today? Maybe like many, 2009 was a tough year for you. You may feel hindered, injured, or sidelined in life by something, and feel like you are unable to participate in it the way I’ve talked about. Let me encourage you with Hebrews 12:1. It says to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Life is like running, as it requires that you only have the necessary, leaving extraneous things behind. And if life is like a marathon, as they say, there is a whole lot to experience along the way. Get ready, get set… GO!
|
 |
|
 |
