Starting Over

Every year, without fail, I look towards January 1 as the start of something new. A clean slate... a fresh start... a chance to do-over stuff that I didn't quite accomplish last year. An opportunity to tackle an area of my character that needs improvement. Unfortunately, most years I don't accomplish EVERY goal that I set forth. I may succeed in reaching one or two goals, and maybe take steps toward achieving some of the larger goals, but there are other goals that I never quite reach. For instance, for the past two years, one of my goals has been to get out of credit card debt. I've written the vision, looked at it daily, thought about it, yearned for it... but this year, once again, my goal is to get out of debt. Didn't quite make it last year. In fact, I may have added to the debt a little (darn it, iTunes!!). I had another goal last year of starting my Richer Life group. Even though I didn't want to (it was hard to do!), I did it, and it was the best thing I endeavored to do last year. My life has changed because of that group. So, success!

On January 1 I was reading Genesis 1. Good place to start at the beginning of the year, right? Well as I was reading about how God created everything, I was thinking about some little sections of the verses. Look at verse 11:

The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

And 24-25:
Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

Pretty cool that, at the beginning of time, God envisioned what he wanted, created it, and then set a system in place so that it could propel itself without Him having to be involved. Like, every time a blade of grass needs to grow, God doesn't have to point his finger to earth and zap the ground to make it happen. It produces after its own kind. There's a system in place - a seed drops to the earth, grows, and produces more seed. God started it, and then he created a way for it to continue.

We start out a year wanting to bring certain characteristics or goals or tangible change into fruition in our lives. This year I want to love more, discipline myself in my talents and gifts, develop healthier habits, and, (gulp) get out of debt. These are just a FEW of my goals. But I can't just point my finger at my goal and make it happen. Wishing and hoping won't make it happen. I need a system in place in order to reach my resolutions. I need to think about real, measurable goals and realistic, do-able steps in which to make my genesis more than just another year full of empty promises. I think we set ourselves up for failure when we make a resolution but don't come up with a game plan.

Not only am I approaching my resolutions with a game plan, but I'm preparing for some of the changes to make me uncomfortable. When I change things that my flesh has gotten used to, like trading soda for water and eating salad instead of cheese fries (oh, Outback! How I love thee!), it sucks (pardon my french). When I have to pass by that new dress in the store and instead use the money I would have spent on it to pay towards my credit card bill, it's not fun. And I have to prepare my mind for that. Changing my life is hard at first, but the benefits outweigh the present pain.

Hopefully, at the end of 2009, I can look at all my goals (or most of them), and the steps I used to achieve them and say, like God did, "It is GOOD!" And hopefully Capital One will have one less customer!