Happy New Year, 2019!
As we start this year we have so much to be thankful for. Let’s take a minute and reflect back on all of the great things from last year…wait a minute! Reflect back on last year, if you’re anything like me, I often have difficulty reflecting back on what I had for breakfast.
In the midst of the fast-pace, problems and relentless pressures of life it is easy to forget how blessed we really are. The consequence of this can quickly become a distorted perspective of our life and of God who gives it. This year let’s put forth a measured effort to make sure this is not true of our life. To help with that I want to suggest three things that we can do:
- Trust God – Specifically trust God’s goodness! As I began reading through the Bible this year I quickly noticed a pattern emerging from the first few chapters of the book of Genesis. The pattern goes like this; God said… It happened… and God said it was good! I believe this shows us God’s heart and desire for our lives. Without God you wouldn’t have life. God has a purpose for your life. The Bible states that before the foundation of the earth God was already thinking about you, you matter! From the pattern I mentioned and throughout the Bible it is clear that God‘s plan is for your life to be good. That doesn’t mean there will never be a problem, difficulty, or a disappointment. It does mean that God will continually fill your life with goodness and work through your life to accomplish good things.
- Track Progress – I encourage each of us to become better at recording and remembering the good things that take place in our lives. It seems that it’s easy to recall the pain points or problems of our lives but I believe we can live with a perspective that focuses on the good things. A couple of years ago it seemed like it rained every Sunday morning. As a matter of fact at one time I was keeping track and we had 11 out of 13 not so great weather Sundays. I was tracking the progress of bad weather. Not anymore! Let’s track the progress of God’s goodness in our lives. How many days do we wake up with the sun shining, or without a headache or sickness? How many times do we not run out of gas? How many times do we get to have great conversations with our spouse or our children or especially our grandchildren?! I think we will all be surprised at how God continually fills our lives with so many good things.
- Tell Your Story – I challenge you to talk about the good things in your life. Not only will this encourage others, it will help you remember all the good things God has done and remembering is important. The Bible encourages us to remember the blessings of God, to even count them so we don’t forget. The other night I fixed a cup of tea and brought it into my office. I sat it on my desk and then in a few minutes I noticed that there was tea all over my desk, I wondered what in the world is going on. As I picked up the cup and looked closer at it I noticed that it had a hairline crack in it allowing the tea to leak out. Sometimes we are like that cup, we leak. We allow the memories of the great things God has done for us, in us, and through us to leak out. No more!
This year we are going to focus on trusting God‘s goodness for our lives, keep track of all of his blessings and share His goodness with others but telling our story. May 2019 be the greatest year ever for you and your family… Filled with the goodness of God!
