My in box bursts with messages about what I need to do for the New Year. If I made one resolution per e-mail suggestion, my list of New Year resolutions would be daunting. And impossible!
I usually make a short list of goals for the New Year, and I know I should have made one by now. Goodness knows there is a lot in my life that needs work. But I can’t just make a list about it. Maybe it’s the season of my life. Maybe it’s all the change I have confronted. Maybe it’s all the lists that I never accomplished.
It’s not that I don’t want growth and accomplishment. And I’m not rejecting the need to make specific progress in key areas. It’s just that I can’t do a list. Just can’t.
I had this conversation with God. He told me to let anything that has a “should” in front of it go down the drain. He told me that while growth through changing times can involve struggle, I shouldn’t be struggling to make growth happen. I defeat myself when I do.
It was a quiet circle for me. For a moment, I stopped my own finger pointing and let the only
voice that matters fill my quiet circle. He told me to be resolute. He told me to start with my heart. Let a forward moving strength grow from my heart. And He said He could help.
So I looked up the word resolute. To be resolute means to be determined, purposeful, single-minded, unswerving, unhesitating, persistent, tenacious, unshakable—all words I would love to use describe me at the end of 2015.
Then, I found this purpose-filled verse to direct my resolve:
Maybe there will be a list later. Or maybe one priority will shoot up from a new-plowed place in my heart. All I know is that without the resolve of my heart, I won’t be able to accomplish the right growth or set the right priority.
So here I go. I’m going to enter 2015 with the resolve to give it all I’ve got. After all, God looks at the heart first. He knows that if some list of resolutions hasn’t been stamped with resolve from my heart, it’s just a list to goad me with guilt that will lead closer to failure than success.
Resolved anew!
Debbie