KEEP COMING BACK!

It’s barely the second week of January and I’ve already broken my resolution to write one blog post a week!  Well, what can I say?  Life happens, year-end reports need to be written, and getting back in the groove after the extended holidays requires a shift in focus and determined concentration.  Frankly, I’m not ready to... let go of those special Christmas "Skype" calls with family, the cheerful Christmas lights across my kitchen window, brilliant fireworks lighting up the skies in my front yard, the gathering of friends, the merriment of our staff at this time of year, our first Candlelight Christmas Eve service, and seeing my 13 year old student dance in a Christmas play.  I want to savor those times a bit longer, but the calendar says “2012” and it is time to press on to what lies ahead.   

That being said, it takes me right back to where I started: New Year’s resolutions.  Actually, I gave up making New Year’s resolutions a long time ago.  I don’t know why I started again this year.  When I was young, I use to make resolutions like “I’ll be a good person.”  No wonder I went through those early years depressed! What is a good person?  How can you measure that?  Worst of all, the focus was on me!   

There are some things I really want to accomplish, things I look forward to doing, and things laid on my heart that are saying, “Now is the time!”  What will I do if I fall short?  KEEP COMING BACK!  As a kid, did you learn to ride a bicycle? What did you do when you fell off?  You got back on.  

For me, it is not a matter of “keep coming back” to the goal.  Please understand, I am not saying to dump the goal!  It’s just that there is Someone more important.  When I “keep coming back” to Jesus Christ, I have His forgiveness; I have His help and strength to keeping going; I have His wisdom to check if this was the “right” goal or the right timing; I have His assurance that “all things work together for good.”  

Regardless of the dire predictions, I am looking forward to 2012! And I hope you will KEEP COMING BACK to my blog!  God bless you!