New Year's Aspirations
Well it's that time of year again. I can't believe 2007 is nearly gone, it just seems like yesterday that it began. This is the time of year for reflecting on the past year and making resolutions for the upcoming year.
I quit making new year's resolutions a few years ago, because I couldn't keep them. I never lost the weight, I didn't make it on my knees every day to pray, I didn't read my Bible every day, and I wasn't patient with my kids all the time. It was just easier to not make the resolution than deal with the guilt of failure.Our pastor gave a good message on resolutions this morning that made me reevaluate my position. He pointed out the fact that we are all sinners and we all will fail at sometime. None of us can do the right thing all the time, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. So I am going to make some new year's aspirations this year that I will strive to keep daily, yet knowing that I am going to fail sometimes. Instead of feeling guilty when I fail, I will just get up, dust myself off, and keep moving up the path to get me closer to those aspirations step by step.
Here is a list of my new year's aspirations that will grow my character:
1. I aspire for the life of Jesus to be revealed in me. (2 Corinthians 4:10)
2. I aspire to be thankful all the time, no matter my circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
3. aspire to treat others the way I would like to be treated, focusing on tone of voice I use to speak to my family. (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31)
4. I aspire to be able to hear and follow God's will for my life.
Here is a list of what I need to do to achieve those aspirations:
1. Read or listen to the Bible daily (I like to listen to the dramatized NIV Bible on my ipod) and pray daily.
2. Fill my mind with positive thoughts, (ie. Christian radio, very little television, Christian books etc) and choose to be thankful.
3. Pray daily for kind words, play with my children more, try to see the world from their eyes.
4. Have daily quiet time, and organize my schedule to write more.
I can see I have a lot of work ahead of me this year and I can only achieve these things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13). Whatever your new year's aspirations are pray each day for the Lord to help you to achieve them, because we can do nothing through our own power. In our Sunday School class today someone shared their 2007 resolution was to be more grateful and the way they achieved that was writing down every answered prayer. I like that idea, so I am adding a page to my notebook to keep a record of all answered prayer. May God be with you and bless you in 2008.
Happy New Year!
Visit my website www.thenarrowpath.net
I quit making new year's resolutions a few years ago, because I couldn't keep them. I never lost the weight, I didn't make it on my knees every day to pray, I didn't read my Bible every day, and I wasn't patient with my kids all the time. It was just easier to not make the resolution than deal with the guilt of failure.Our pastor gave a good message on resolutions this morning that made me reevaluate my position. He pointed out the fact that we are all sinners and we all will fail at sometime. None of us can do the right thing all the time, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. So I am going to make some new year's aspirations this year that I will strive to keep daily, yet knowing that I am going to fail sometimes. Instead of feeling guilty when I fail, I will just get up, dust myself off, and keep moving up the path to get me closer to those aspirations step by step.
Here is a list of my new year's aspirations that will grow my character:
1. I aspire for the life of Jesus to be revealed in me. (2 Corinthians 4:10)
2. I aspire to be thankful all the time, no matter my circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
3. aspire to treat others the way I would like to be treated, focusing on tone of voice I use to speak to my family. (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31)
4. I aspire to be able to hear and follow God's will for my life.
Here is a list of what I need to do to achieve those aspirations:
1. Read or listen to the Bible daily (I like to listen to the dramatized NIV Bible on my ipod) and pray daily.
2. Fill my mind with positive thoughts, (ie. Christian radio, very little television, Christian books etc) and choose to be thankful.
3. Pray daily for kind words, play with my children more, try to see the world from their eyes.
4. Have daily quiet time, and organize my schedule to write more.
I can see I have a lot of work ahead of me this year and I can only achieve these things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13). Whatever your new year's aspirations are pray each day for the Lord to help you to achieve them, because we can do nothing through our own power. In our Sunday School class today someone shared their 2007 resolution was to be more grateful and the way they achieved that was writing down every answered prayer. I like that idea, so I am adding a page to my notebook to keep a record of all answered prayer. May God be with you and bless you in 2008.
Happy New Year!
Visit my website www.thenarrowpath.net
posted by My Nickels Worth @ 10:03 AM
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