New Year Reflection
At the end of a year it’s a good practice to look back and consider the events of the past 12 months. Taking time to reflect on the good times, the friendships we’ve cultivated, our achievements, our disappointments, our struggles and challenges and giving thanks to God for walking with us through it all, reminds us that although life can be hard at times, there is always joy to be discovered if God is with us.
Reflecting in this way causes us to notice areas of our life that may need a little work, some correction or change that we would like to make. That’s why New Years Resolutions are so popular. They grow from our frustration of not being good enough, desiring something we currently don’t have or wanting to be better. But as we all know they seldom last for longer than a few weeks.
Why is it that we find it so hard to make any positive change in our lives?
A new years resolution is simply a habit. Habits are learnt behaviours that happen automatically without us thinking about them. But they have to be formed by repetition.
If we stop for a moment to consider the habits that control our lives we may notice that the habits that are bad for us seem way more easy to form than those that are good. The reason for this is that bad habits usually offer us some reward quickly, whereas good habits take time to form and the rewards usually come later. Most of us don’t stick with a good new habit for that long so we never experience the reward.
Motivation is also a key element in making a new habit stick. This is the “Why do I want to do this?” If it’s just a “good idea” that hasn’t really been thought through properly, had little planning or was even suggested by someone else, then we are already set up to fail because our heart will never be fully committed to making the change.
All this is true as we consider building our lives around God. Jesus invites us all to, “Follow me.” (Luke 5:27) It’s an invitation that each of us must respond to. Will we or won’t we? These are the only two responses available. There is no middle ground, no, “well, maybe a little bit, when it suits me, or fits into my busy life.” It’s a simple “Yes”, or “No”.
Imagine planning a journey to London. In the days before Sat. Navs. you would have the maps out, deciding which route to take. Of course there are roadsigns along the way, but what would happen if I started following the signs to London, but at some point in my journey spotted a sign to Manchester and decided to follow it instead? Wherever I ended up it probably wouldn’t be in London, if I only chose to follow the signs when it was convenient for me. To arrive in London, I have to follow the signs to London!
Following Jesus will cost us everything. There are no half measures.
The mystery of saying “Yes” is that Jesus meets us where we are, with the little we have to offer, and will lead us on the most incredible journey we can ever embark on. He calls us to follow, not just in His way, but in the way that He lived, the things that He did (His practices) – those things that formed Him and kept Him close to His Father. Following Jesus is a call to re-orient and re-architect our lives around Him; to surrender our own dreams and desires, trusting that we will discover “life in all it’s fullness” (John 10:10 New Century Version) as we walk with Him.
At the start of 2025 take some time to consider your life and your walk with God.
Ask yourself –
- Is there someone I can share my journey with?
- Who do I want to become?
- In what ways can I build my life around God?
- What one thing could I plan to build into my life that will draw me closer to Him?
Finally, consider these words of Dallas Willard –
The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy. This is the feature of human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We intend what is right, but we avoid the life that would make it reality.
Dallas Willard – The Spirit of Disciplines – Chapter 1
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