Looking Up & Pressing On

The gifts have been opened, the last of the Christmas cookies eaten and the Christmas music fading in the background. Yet one more gift remains if we’re willing to accept its invitation; the New Year full of endless promise, possibilities and outcomes! Of course with each New Year we’re reminded of those weighty New Year’s resolutions, both of the unmet goals from the previous year and the goals we have for the upcoming year.

If you’re anything like me, it is as if year after year, the same routine ensues: I feel a surge of new excitement and energy, almost dewy-eyed at what my life might look like in the coming year. I long to be disciplined, organized, motivated…and the list goes on and on. And of course, let’s not forget the yearly goal to lose 10 pounds while we’re at it! Sadly, it doesn’t take long before my goals seem far-fetched and my vision blurred. With discouragement crouching at our hearts’ door, let’s be reminded that it was God’s plan to provide newness and fresh beginnings for our lives.

Thankfully, we have a Creator God that knew exactly what our feeble hearts would need when He formed us. He knew we would need daily rest and a brand-new start to each day. Lamentations 3:22-23 offers us hope for the coming year. “Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” What a comfort to know that God designed our world with built in newness. It is by no accident that He created night and day, for He knew how discouraged we would become and remedied our hearts with promised faithfulness and a renewed heart each morning and every New Year.

With promised faithfulness and a fresh start, God also promises victory. Proverbs 2:7-8 says, “He stores up sound wisdom (victory) for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.” What a promise! God is our Shield and Defender against another year of defeat. His grace and mercy is enough for all of our needs, throughout this year and everyday.

On the brink of a New Year, we have a choice. We can allow our past failures, missed opportunities and unmet goals to pour defeat over our coming year, or we can choose to press on into the New Year holding on to the truth that past failures do not equate future failures. We have the opportunity to yet again set goals, look forward with anticipation, trusting in God’s Word as our guide and compass. Proverbs 4:25-26 says, “Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.” God is calling us to ponder our steps, set goals for the future, all the while fixing our eyes on Him who is able to bring about success. The truth is this year doesn’t have to look like last year or the year before that just because that has been our life’s pattern.

This year can be different with a heart set on God’s agenda for a fresh beginning. Writing down a goal doesn’t have to equal defeat, not this time, and not this year. Defeat in the past does not equal defeat in the future. Defeat in the past expecting defeat in the future is true defeat. We can allow our unmet goals from the previous year to spur us on to victory as we rely on the Lord to direct us and give us the energy we need to do His will. This year as I thumb through my journal pages overflowing with the lofty ideals of last year’s unmet goals, I choose to forgo the usual solemn heart and defeated spirit and look forward and up with anticipation at all that God can do through a life fully surrendered to HIM! With Proverbs 2: 7-8 as our promise, let’s remember that although our track record might be failure, with God’s help, victory awaits us in 2010!