January is the month of resolutions and new beginnings!
So I boldly declare that THIS year I will (take your pick):
- Lose weight
- Eat only healthy food
- Exercise more
- Read more books
- Declutter my house
- Spend more time with family
- Spend less time with electronics
- Blah,blah,blah
Wouldn’t it be grand if all it took was the turn of a calendar page to make all things new?
How wonderful if I could wipe the slate clean and start afresh just because the earth had made another round of the sun!
But the average length of time these commitments last is just 7-10 days. (Which by now, most of us have already found out.)
Why?
Because we can rarely make sweeping changes that go against habits and character traits just because we say it aloud or write it on a special piece of paper.
Life’s not like that.
Life is an amalgamation of thousands of small and a few not-so-small choices that combine to make me who I am.
Choices become habits and habits become character.
And then there are the other things–the things I didn’t choose-that slam into me and violently reshape who I am-ready or not.
How I respond to what I can’t control continues to remake who I am.
There is ONE resolution that can remake me from the inside out.
There is one habit that that will not only make THIS year new, but will make ME new.
There is a single choice that I can make every day that will affect me and everyone around me.
It’s not hard, but there will be resistance. It doesn’t require special equipment, but it requires commitment. I don’t have to be in shape-as a matter of fact, the more out-of-shape I am, the more remarkable the transformation.
If I place my heart in the hands of Jesus by sitting in silence with Him each day, reading His Word and asking Him to open my eyes to the beauty He places in my path-even this rocky road of child loss-He will renew my mind and transform my character so that I am conformed to His image.
He is the Potter.
The work is His.
I am the clay.
thelifeididntchoose 