If there's one thing that 2017 has taught me, it's that life happens and there are many things that are completely out of your control. We want to be better people, and to see things improve in our lives. Certainly, we have a lot of power to do that and help it along the way. However, there will always be those things that you can't control. They happen, and you have to deal with them. I've seen many of them this year in all areas of life. It can be frustrating to feel powerless, especially when you've tried to hard to do better.
That's life. As my pastor told me when Chloe died, bad things just happen, and there's nothing you can do but move forward in faith. That's certainly true. It's also true that you need to be particularly mindful of how you do it, and to make sure you take that journey with wisdom and purity of heart. It's easy to get distracted and for our emotions to mislead us.
That being said, I thing New Year's Resolutions are important, but for more reasons than we realize. It's human nature to want to be better, and making resolutions to improve ourselves strengthens our foundation to handle those pesky things that we can't control. Grief, disappointment, discouragement, and failure are never easy, but they journey through them is better if we're already in a habit of doing the best with what we've got. Resolutions to be more faithful, get in shape through diet and exercise, get organized, get rid of old habits and establish new good habits, accomplish a goal or dream, take up something new, make a change, or to just do better in day to day life give us the strength we need to keep going when the going gets tough. That determination, internal motivation, and self discipline are important to keep us going when the world keeps turning, despite the fact that we don't feel like going with it. It opens our heart and our eyes to truth, and helps us to gain wisdom from the things we wished hadn't happened (but did anyway). It connects us with what we can control, so we can figure out how to manage what we can't control.
The key to success with any New Year's Resolution is to make it a habit. Keep at it with an intention to make it part of your daily life. Habits take 21-28 days to form, so the first month will be the hardest, but after that it will flow better if you don't give us. So don't give up. Keep at it. Making yourself a better person makes you a stronger person to deal with all life has to offer. I wish you luck and success with this endeavor.
2017 was a mixed bag year, as they all wind out being. But that's alright, because that's life. I might not have any formal resolutions, but I do resolve this for 2018: to go into it with a mind and heart open to love, joy, wisdom, and courage for what lies ahead. I wish us all love, luck, and happiness now and always.
Happy New Year!
That's life. As my pastor told me when Chloe died, bad things just happen, and there's nothing you can do but move forward in faith. That's certainly true. It's also true that you need to be particularly mindful of how you do it, and to make sure you take that journey with wisdom and purity of heart. It's easy to get distracted and for our emotions to mislead us.
That being said, I thing New Year's Resolutions are important, but for more reasons than we realize. It's human nature to want to be better, and making resolutions to improve ourselves strengthens our foundation to handle those pesky things that we can't control. Grief, disappointment, discouragement, and failure are never easy, but they journey through them is better if we're already in a habit of doing the best with what we've got. Resolutions to be more faithful, get in shape through diet and exercise, get organized, get rid of old habits and establish new good habits, accomplish a goal or dream, take up something new, make a change, or to just do better in day to day life give us the strength we need to keep going when the going gets tough. That determination, internal motivation, and self discipline are important to keep us going when the world keeps turning, despite the fact that we don't feel like going with it. It opens our heart and our eyes to truth, and helps us to gain wisdom from the things we wished hadn't happened (but did anyway). It connects us with what we can control, so we can figure out how to manage what we can't control.
The key to success with any New Year's Resolution is to make it a habit. Keep at it with an intention to make it part of your daily life. Habits take 21-28 days to form, so the first month will be the hardest, but after that it will flow better if you don't give us. So don't give up. Keep at it. Making yourself a better person makes you a stronger person to deal with all life has to offer. I wish you luck and success with this endeavor.
2017 was a mixed bag year, as they all wind out being. But that's alright, because that's life. I might not have any formal resolutions, but I do resolve this for 2018: to go into it with a mind and heart open to love, joy, wisdom, and courage for what lies ahead. I wish us all love, luck, and happiness now and always.
Happy New Year!
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