Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Happy New Year!

"Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you...  And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:12-14

Happy New Year!                                                                                                                                     
Tradition holds that this time of year we evaluate our lives and resolve to make changes for the coming year.  I don't know about you, but I don't remember ever keeping a New Year's Resolution for more than a few weeks.  Whether it be to live a more healthy lifestyle through diet & exercise, improve my finances, or to be more organized, my best efforts get swept up in the busy-ness of life, making it difficult to maintain new habits.  There are endless systems, gurus, books, and gadgets that promise success.  Have you tried them?  Did they work?  Life, it seems, is a series of trials-and-errors when it comes to changing or improving who we are.

While I have fallen short of many goals I have set over the years, I can admit that I am a different person (hopefully improved) than I was in the past.  The ongoing process is gradual, and I am still me with my flaws & issues & buttons that can be pushed, just a kinder, more accepting me (most of the time).  Even my husband noticed, so it must be true!  The way to truly bring out my better attributes and limit my negative responses was to rely on God.  Rely on His promises, His guidance, His teachings, and His plan for my life.  I don't always lovingly submit to Him or accept His challenges, but I try my best.  Remembering His promises for me has been most reassuring during times of doubt, struggle, and just plain stubbornness.   Remembering that God forgives my transgressions has encouraged me to return to His path when I stray, rather than totally giving up.

The passage from Colossians is a wonderful reminder of how we should train our attitude.  It says that we are holy and chosen by God.  WOW!  I wish everyone could absorb that truth!!
It tells us how we should think and act towards each other every day.  And in being kind, humble, gentle, patient, and merciful, by offering forgiveness and making allowances for each other, we also do those things for ourselves.  How wonderful a world we would live in, if we could do even half of these consistently!  And then there is Love, the most important command of all!  It's what holds everything else in place.  It does not allow pride, anger, or judgement to overtake us.  Just imagine the changes that would take place if everyone chose even one word of this passage as their New Year's Resolution for 2014.  And if not one of these words, another single word from The Word of God.

It's this idea of focusing on one word, supported by The Word, that we studied last April (My One Word, by Mike Ashcraft & Rachel Olsen).  This focus has given me my greatest growth.  As I work on viewing the world through just one word from Scripture, everything is starting to reflect a positive move towards being the person God created me to be.

If you make New Year's Resolutions, what is yours this year?  I hope you share them in the Comment section below - I'd love to read about them!!  I am continuing with my one word, honey, until Lent.  But I have resolved to work more diligently on using my word to live the life God has designed for me.

I cannot express fully the gratitude I have for each of you who read this blog or attend the Friday gatherings.  
It is your gracious and loving support that gives me courage to continue to write and lead a Bible study.  Thank you for your prayers, your words, and your attendance.  You make my heart sing with praise!

Let me remind those who can meet, we are resuming our Friday morning gatherings this Friday, January 10th, at 9:15 am.  We will be starting a new study, Java with the Judges by Sandra Glahn.  The 10th will be a 'welcome back' and review, so no need to prepare anything for our first week back.  This is the perfect opportunity to join us for the first time and to bring a friend!!  

Your Partner in Ministry,

Shelly

"Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24

  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can't wait! Our group and study are such a blessing. The encouragement , love and support received through these friends are a gift always.

Anonymous said...

I don't make resolutions anymore. But on a friend's suggestion (the one and only Carol Kitchin!) I compose a list of things to accomplish. Perpetual items on the list are "get a mani/pedi" and "paint a room". "Go on 6 dates with my husband" and "See 4 plays this year" are on there too. And "Complete the photo project for the kid's school pictures" has been on there for 3 years now. It's fun to make up every January, even though I always fall woefully short (but maybe THIS year!).

See you guys Friday!
~Janice

Shelly said...

Janice, I like the idea of making a list of things "to do" over the course of the year! I've done this with my husband a few times and it's gratifying to be able to say 'it was on our list and now it's done!'. Though we, too have many things on our list that are incomplete or unattempted for consecutive years :)