Monday, December 31, 2012

My New Year's Resolution for 2013


 As this year draws to a close, we are all thinking about the past year—about our sorrows: the things we’d like to do differently and about our joys: the things that made the year worth living.  We talk about New Years Resolutions because we believe in fresh starts.  We believe that God makes all things new (Rev. 21:5).  

But why is it that we think that after a certain year or age that we will magically be changed?  I stopped having real New Years Resolutions a while back because they never worked.  I never was able to stick with it to make the change. After all, how can I fail if I don’t ever make a goal?  I think that I always failed eventually because I tried to rely on my own efforts to change.  True change doesn’t come from trying hard or our good intentions.  It comes from God.  We know this, but as with all of God's Ways, it is easier said than done.  

One of the most profound things that God has ever told me is (Who am I kidding?  When God speaks, it’s all profound!) that just because I want something doesn’t mean I’ll get it.  I want a good marriage.  But if you wish in one and you know what in the other, see which one fills up first.  Wanting does nothing unless you surrender and do things God’s ways. 

This New Year of 2013, the only thing I want more of is God.  I want His Presence and His Peace.  His word tells us that we already have these things—“You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever” (Psalms 16:11 NLT).  All we have to do is Trust that He will do what He says. 

So as 2012 comes to a close, just like everyone else I will think about the past year—about my sorrows: the things I’d like to do differently and my joys: the things that made this year worth living.   I will look forward to 2013 with great expectation as an artist looks at a blank canvas—full of possibility.  The only resolve that I will make is to seek His Peace and His Presence above all else because in His Presence our problems and circumstances don’t seem to matter as we fill our lives with the fullness of His Joy.