2025; a new year and a new beginning

2025; a new year and a new beginning! Happy new year! Another year, another new beginning. So let me start off by confessing that I was not successful in my bid to read the whole bible in one year. I got as far as the Minor Prophets . I was quite disappointed in myself and I intend to finish what I started. Will keep you posted on when I finally finish reading the bible this year. What is so cool about starting a new year is you can wipe the slate clean and have a new plan, hopefully in my case a wiser and more productive plan. Needless to say I have had to be honest with myself about what didn’t work last year.

Lessons learnt

So the lessons learnt are 1) failure may be inevitable but I can pick myself up, dust myself and try again. 2) 1 have learnt that adjusting my goals to meet the demands on my life does not mean I will not succeed because in this particular case the big picture is to read the bible from Genesis to Revelation and not necessarily to read the bible in One year! 3) I learnt that perseverance is going forward despite the real disheartening feeling of disappointment and guilt because I could have and or should have done better. Being honest with myself was very hard and a totally humbling experience.

New beginning

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23). This is the verse I am meditating on to encourage myself to do better and do different this year. I am hopeful and there is something exciting about being at the start of something new. I know this is not my first New Year but it feels special I guess because I am more intentional about auditing what my intentions were last year and how unsuccessful I was. 

Courage

This year I will take courage from the fact that the Lord is merciful and compassionate. His mercy implies that I am continually being redeemed so I can start over again when I fail. His compassionate leads to restoration, He restores my soul and this implies that He takes me back to where I was and then I can restart again or resume where I left off. So this year my grand plan is to pray for an hour , read the bible for thirty minutes , study the bible for thirty minutes and worship for an hour every day. I know it seems very ambitious and I have probably bitten off more than I can chew but I think if I aim high enough I will hit the target most of the time!