The New Year is coming!
It is hard to believe that another year has passed. The year has gone so quickly that it feels like a dream. How many of you are looking back at your year and wish things could have been different? Maybe there are things that you have done or said you wish you could take back? Or maybe you’re looking at the New Year thinking about what next goal you can set to try to achieve?
It seems like a lot of people have a New Years resolution. And most of the time it doesn’t last for long. It seems that the most popular resolutions are to eat better, exercise more, and lose weight. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these resolutions. I do have one for the coming year and that is to be more regular in my exercise.
Failure
What tends to happen is a person starts out well but they may eat something that is not healthy, or a day goes by without exercising and they give it all up because they failed once. This is a problem. When we fail we should not get discouraged and stop we should reset our goals and start again. Every day is a new day and a fresh start. We don’t have to live on yesterday’s mistakes or tomorrows goals we just live today.
Setting goals are well and good and we should do it because that is what keeps us motivated. But don’t beat yourself up when you do fail, just get up and keep going. I am going to give you some tips on setting goals and how to keep them. Keeping your New Year’s resolutions is a choice every single moment, day, week, month, year. But I believe that you cannot do it alone.
Get your priorities straight
There is a “must” in setting goals. It starts with making a commitment to allow the Lord to lead in your life. We are unable to stick to our commitments without the aid of God. We may think we can and we may try. But I can tell you by experience that it is way easier to have the Lord to depend on.
I know you have heard these excuses and have made them yourself. “I don’t have time to exercise.” “I didn’t have time to eat a decent meal I just had to grab it on the go.” “I accidentally slept in.” “The food looked so good I could not resist.” “I can never lose this weight, it’s impossible.” “I don’t have time to spend with God.”
Alarm clocks
You might be thinking, “What do alarm clocks have to do with New Year resolutions?” Well, I believe that “alarm clocks” are the key to success when setting goals. And I have the best “Alarm Clock” ever made and I want to share it with you.
When starting the New Year you have to get your priorities straight. You have to make a commitment. I believe to make your day, week, month, year successful you need to make a morning commitment. It is important for you to get up in the morning so you want to make sure you set your “Alarm”.
The best Alarm that I have found is God. I have found this to be so true in my life. I ask the Lord to wake me in the morning and He does it faithfully every day. And when He wakes me I am wide-awake. Now, can I hit the snooze button on God? Yes, I can and I have done it. It usually comes in the form of, “I’ll just lay here and pray for a few minutes.” Or we make similar excuses. Something that sounds so legit. And without fail, I go back to sleep. What is amazing to me is that when I wake up the next time I feel groggy and I don’t feel as good the rest of the day. Make God your alarm clock.
Simple 30-minute startup
I want to give you a simple 30-minute startup that you can easily commit to doing every single day. Upon rising:
- Get a large glass of water. For me, I like to drink a quart of warm water and drink it in a fairly short period of time. It is a good cleanser first thing in the morning flushing toxins that have built through the night. But you can choose how much water and what temperature you want. I am not going to count this into your 30 minutes because this should not take long. If you choose to heat your water you can lead into #2 while you are heating and drinking your water.
- Spend around 5 minutes in prayer and gratitude to God. I definitely spend more time in prayer than this but this is a great place to start. We need to be grateful every day. Our tendency is to look at the negatives in the past year. Instead, look at what the Lord has done in your life, look at the positive. As you start to be grateful you will see more and more positive things.
- Spend 10 minutes reading your Bible or your favorite book that draws you to God. Again I spend more time than 10 minutes. And I have found that the Lord will wake me up in plenty of time to spend more time. And He also multiplies the time. He is so faithful.
- Spend 15 minutes in some form of exercise. I like walking. Just try to pick something that you will do. I have a treadmill and I like to get on it. One reason I like the treadmill is that I can listen to something while I do it. So while I am on my treadmill I listen to the Bible on audio. This is a good way to do two things at once. I also have used this time to memorize Scripture or even spending more time in prayer. After you exercise, make sure to get a glass of water in.
Now you can go on with your day, as usual, making sure that you have invited the Lord to attend you throughout the day. I have found that not only is God a great wake up alarm but as I invite Him to accompany me throughout the day that He also sets off the “alarm” when I start to do something that is not in line with the commitments I have made.
You have it made
If God is reminding us of our commitments what is there to worry about? I know that God is always faithful but my commitments can be like ropes of sand. Knowing God will “alarm” me I don’t have to worry. But I do need to make sure that when He does warn me that I listen and don’t hit the snooze button and go ahead and do my own thing. God is always there we are the ones that walk away.
Dear Father,
Thank You for always being there for us. Thank You that You are always willing to forgive. Help us in this New Year to stay more committed and connected with You.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Let God lead you in the commitments you make in this coming year. And allow Him to help you stick to it.
Have you great New Year! Love you all.
Have you asked God to wake you in the morning? How has it worked for you? Comment below.