This is not another blog about New Years resolutions.......Okay maybe it is but its not about how to keep them or that you should even have them, perhaps it is more about reclaiming them for something that will actually benefit us.
Trust me there is nothing I hate more than those things, they sound really great on December 31st but then immediately start to dwindle by the time we watch the ball drop into the next year. Over my lifetime I have witnessed people decide to give up drinking and then toast with champagne , I have decided to eat better and then stuff myself in the name of celebration, I have decided to exercise more then sleep in after a long night and stay in my PJ's the whole next day and so on and so on. More often than not my attempt at resolutions are never for myself anyway , although they certainly are packaged that way. I say I want to eat less and move more for my health and that might be a little bit true but if I was honest a huge part of it is to look better in this world for other people, even my friend who declared to stop drinking was doing it for his family not truly for himself, he wasn't ready yet. This is why resolutions suck. Infact they are like most other parts of our lives if we are honest. They sound good, feel good saying them out loud or writing them in a book, they even look good for a while until the inevitable happens and the very thing that made us feel so good saying, writing, committing to and helped us look so good ends up turning on us into a pile of guilt, shame and condemnation because we are now too weak, too lazy, not strong enough, not determined enough, not "one of those people" that we think exist because of our distorted lens of social media and we are in a strange pit that seems even deeper than the one we declared we were escaping from on December 31.........what the heck just happened?!?!?
Much of this whole resolution thing, although its been alive and well for many years, is a new unachievable fairy tale place that exists only on Pinterest, Facebook, twitter and Instagram. Its a land of perfect moms who have perfect bodies, perfect kids, perfect husbands, perfect pets, perfect houses, perfect friends, perfect meals. Beside her lives that perfect couple, with the perfect jobs, the perfect condo, the perfect lifestyle and go on their perfect vacations. This is the community of perfect Christians who memorize the bible , pray for hours from the crack of dawn everyday,go to the perfect church, only watch and listen to good godly messages, have good godly perfect children who go to the perfect Christian school and have the perfect Christian friends and are eager to work side by side with their parents on humanitarian missions, they have a good godly perfect Christian marriage and the skeletons in their closets (just like the ones we all have) are camouflaged beautifully by their social media accounts that lift them up by the bodies of those of us who live under the weight of this unattainable perfection.
Any resolution I thought about having this year was only a reflection of the fact that my life NEVER resembles any of this list EVER! I started to wonder and pray if I had been a part of this incredible false sense of achievement via social media........was I too making victims of what my life looks like on the internet? I looked at my life, our life over the last few years and realized that yes I too had put out some posts that made things look better than they actually were, although in fairness I feel like if I put out ALL of our junk the internet might explode lol! Many people know that life has not been a bed of roses for our family that last few years but more of a series of weeds growing in some dead grass with the occasional awesome beautiful bloom growing up in midst of it all. Often things were totally out of control, Sometimes we had to look hard and clear out a lot of weeds in our life ( unhealthy people, places and things) but the blooms were truly beautiful. That's who God is though, isn't He............He does let us grow a few weeds so we will do the work of clearing them out to see His beauty. Isaiah 61:3
This year instead of one of those resolutions that are just feeble attempts to live up to a perfection that never existed in the first place I have decided to try my best to follow this list I wrote for myself that will be in my purse, on my fridge, in my car anywhere I need to be reminded of what really matters in life:
1. Truly let it go - Seriously people lets all pull an Elsa from Frozen, yes even if you need to sing that annoying song to remind you to let it go do it! When we hang onto garbage our own or others we become heavy, drained and tired I don't know about you but this makes me feel almost as good as a cardio workout when we drop it all. The truth is I don't care how much you weigh, if you are carrying around the garbage of guilt, shame, condemnation, unachievable perfection you will feel like you are 600 lbs even if your 105lbs. I promise we will all feel healthier in body mind and spirit when we decide to let it go, all of it, all the hurt , pain especially what others have done to you. I promise we will all feel lighter and able to do more than we could ever imagine. Forgiveness does that, honest I know this for sure, I just have to learn to go to it FIRST before I hold onto the garbage until it drowns me, drains me of any life-giving energy. Col 3:13
2. Clear out the weeds - I am not exactly someone who has a green thumb but I know enough to know that if you leave the weeds not only can you not see the beautiful flowers but it leaves no room for more to grow. This may seem like a contradiction to the first item on my list about letting go and forgiving but its not, Letting go and forgiving can still happen but sometimes you need to remove the "weedy" people, places and things of life that keep popping up. We only have a short time on this earth and I believe we are to be loving and kind to everyone but NOT to the detriment of our health. Unless we pull weeds out by the root they will spring up somewhere else in the garden and caused more problems elsewhere. Choose a small (1-2) group of people in your life as those whom you can spill everything too and know it stays with them AND that they wont just say they will pray for you but they will. Choose people who live what they say. People who understand that time in silence with God is more important than a clean house or clean floors. People who care more about being with God than being the person people think they should be. Find these people in your life. Find places to go to be with God, life-giving places, taking the time to do nothing with Him. Do things to breathe life into you even if they world says that is not a goal worthy of a social media post. Take time to be alone because people will always want a piece of you, be careful who you give yourself to, even Jesus took time away from people. My mother always says " People are either builders or destroyers they are never both" Choose builders, people who are not just a builder to your face but behind the scenes too. These are the people who help us weed our gardens and add new life to them. Luke 5: 15-16
3. Believe God is who He says He is for YOUR life not someone elses - God has a plan for your life, I know you have heard this before but its true I think the problem is we look around at other peoples lives and think we need to live that one too, wow that would be pretty boring wouldn't it?!? Besides I've tried to do that it never works God has equipped you for a very specific purpose and all the tools necessary to do it. GOD has a plan for your life, no one else is God lets be clear about that, People often place us in a category of who they think you are generally without really taking the time to know you . We often think spending time in the same space as someone means we know them and that is terribly wrong. Go to the Word, read about how awesome God is, then read it some more and then believe He is still alive and active and waiting to perform amazing miracles in and through your life if you let Him. There is no better freedom than being in those moments when you feel Gods hand on your life. When you realize the places that felt like you were falling apart God was really putting you into place. When you see our lasagna God at His best , layering your life for great purpose. Believe Him and feel your life change for the better. 2Cor 6:16
When we let go , clear the weeds and believe God is who He says HE is there is nothing we cannot accomplish if it is in His will. Yes we should take care of ourselves, yes I need to loose some weight for my health but if I don't clear my life of the things preventing me from the freedom of a life in the fullness of God it doesn't matter how much I weigh or how much I go to the gym. The best part is when I live my life as close as I can to these three things, all the rest seems to fall into place. This is not a list intended to add any pressure to you or me I promise. I will be trying and failing just like you but I know if this list is my focus I will be the better for it.
Happy New year but remember God is more than 365 days a year, He is eternal, forever and everlasting! If you are reading this and have not given your life to the Lord don't waste another moment! DO not step into 2016 without surrendering your life to Him! Just ask for His forgiveness, ask him into your heart and receive His grace. THIS would be the best "resolution" you have EVER made!
