New year’s resolutions; an awesome opportunity to start again!

New year’s resolutions; an awesome opportunity to start again! Now this is not my typical response to creating new year’s resolutions but I am willing to change. At the start of this year I decided to seize the opportunity to reset, realign, and restart. Instead of rehashing all my old new year resolutions especially the goals that are typically not met, I am choosing new goals! Jesus said do not put new wine into old wineskins. I have decided to listen to this advice. It is a new year and so it requires new thinking, new goals and new strategies.

Start by resetting

To start with a clean slate we must recognise and acknowledge what has not worked. We must take a hard look at our failures, where we went wrong. I had to admit to myself that some resolutions were doomed to fail from the word go. I had to admit to myself that not a lot of thought had gone into making some resolutions. A bible character who inspired me to reset is Paul. Saul as he was known before the Damascus road incident was intent and determined to do away with the people who followed Jesus. But after he met Jesus in a vision he had to admit that he had been wrong all along and that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Paul had to change, he had to reset his way of thinking, his beliefs and the way he was going about defending his faith.

Opportunity to realign

To realign is a great word that means “to change or to restore to a different or former position or state“. A great example in the bible of a person who had to realign is Moses. Moses witnessed an Egyptian beating one of his people who were slaves at that time. He took matters into his own hands and killed the Egyptian and then had to flee Egypt when Pharaoh found out. After being in exile for forty years God appeared to him in the form of a burning bush. And told Moses, He was sending him out to deliver his people. Moses had the right idea about the need to save his people but he was going about it the wrong way. He had to align his thinking with God’s thoughts and God’s plan. This not only succeeded but it was spectacular.

Willingness to restart

It takes courage to start again. Joseph in the book of Genesis is a good example of starting over again no matter what comes your way. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt. Fortunately the favour of the Lord was on him and he did well in his master’s house. However the master’s wife tried to seduce him and when that failed he was thrown into prison. Even in prison he excelled, he was put in charge of the other prisoners. Have you ever wondered what it takes to stand out in jail? Instead of wallowing about the injustice of jail he was willing to start over again. This year I am willing to start over despite past failures and past disappointments.

My challenge to you is take a good hard look at your resolutions, be bold and make the necessary adjustments. Lastly be willing to restart no matter how inconvenient it may be.