I hope the first two weeks of your New Year have been fulfilling. Much is made this time of year about resolutions. I have been amazed at the numerous advertisements for home gyms, workout facilities, diet programs, and nutritional supplements. All this centers on making a fresh start after overindulging at holiday feasts and celebrations. You wake up several days in a row with bloating and indigestion and it doesn’t take much to want to reform. Then when you step on the scale…egad! Experts estimate that the average American gains ten pounds of weight from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. There is no wonder then that just as there is a season for Thanksgiving and Christmas, January has become the season for fresh starts.
Needless to say, our weight loss efforts (or other New Year’s Resolutions) are only as attainable as we allow them to be. When we set lofty goals that are difficult to reach at best, we set ourselves up for failure. I might have in my mind’s eye a picture of Hollywood’s hottest celebrity for how I want to look, but it simply might not be attainable. Outside of genetics, there are a lot of other factors that play into these equations, ranking from the time for austere workout regimes to the money for top-dollar personal trainers and even cosmetic surgery. Then, when it’s all said and done, they don’t call makeup artists and special effects wizards the magicians of Hollywood for nothing! But I digress.
When we center our quest for fresh starts on bathroom scales or mirrors, then we fall way short. As author James Luceno says, we can look at ourselves in the mirror for an eternity and we no more become our reflection than a map becomes the land you want to visit. So for a true fresh start we must look deeper, and ironically enough, aim higher!
Our God wants to offer you the best fresh start you could ever hope for. God wants you to know the depth of His love and the warmth of His embrace. God wants you to know the power of His Holy Spirit to work on your heart and change your life!
Many of us have lived at times in our lives feeling like we have just gotten through the holidays, bloated with indigestion. Many of us know that feeling of being compelled to make a lasting change in our lives. And we all want to know the power of living life with a clean conscience, empowered for making a difference in the world for good!
So look no further than the God who created you and loves you more than anything. We cannot derive our value or beauty from a mirror or bathroom scale. But when we place our life in the hand of almighty God, then we realize we are priceless: created out of love and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Couple that with the lethargic feeling of overindulgences, and we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we need a new lord in our lives. One that doesn’t judge us by the way we look or how much we weigh, but by the potential only God Himself is capable of seeing.
Whatever your New Year’s resolution might be for 2010, I pray that you aim higher than simply to lose weight (though I confess it’s one of mine, too) or anything else. If it’s a fresh start we crave, there is no better place to turn than our God who loves us so dearly. So turn to Him, allow Him to bathe you in the depths of His love, warm you in His embrace, and empower you with His Holy Spirit! And again, may I wish you a Happy New Year!
Needless to say, our weight loss efforts (or other New Year’s Resolutions) are only as attainable as we allow them to be. When we set lofty goals that are difficult to reach at best, we set ourselves up for failure. I might have in my mind’s eye a picture of Hollywood’s hottest celebrity for how I want to look, but it simply might not be attainable. Outside of genetics, there are a lot of other factors that play into these equations, ranking from the time for austere workout regimes to the money for top-dollar personal trainers and even cosmetic surgery. Then, when it’s all said and done, they don’t call makeup artists and special effects wizards the magicians of Hollywood for nothing! But I digress.
When we center our quest for fresh starts on bathroom scales or mirrors, then we fall way short. As author James Luceno says, we can look at ourselves in the mirror for an eternity and we no more become our reflection than a map becomes the land you want to visit. So for a true fresh start we must look deeper, and ironically enough, aim higher!
Our God wants to offer you the best fresh start you could ever hope for. God wants you to know the depth of His love and the warmth of His embrace. God wants you to know the power of His Holy Spirit to work on your heart and change your life!
Many of us have lived at times in our lives feeling like we have just gotten through the holidays, bloated with indigestion. Many of us know that feeling of being compelled to make a lasting change in our lives. And we all want to know the power of living life with a clean conscience, empowered for making a difference in the world for good!
So look no further than the God who created you and loves you more than anything. We cannot derive our value or beauty from a mirror or bathroom scale. But when we place our life in the hand of almighty God, then we realize we are priceless: created out of love and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Couple that with the lethargic feeling of overindulgences, and we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we need a new lord in our lives. One that doesn’t judge us by the way we look or how much we weigh, but by the potential only God Himself is capable of seeing.
Whatever your New Year’s resolution might be for 2010, I pray that you aim higher than simply to lose weight (though I confess it’s one of mine, too) or anything else. If it’s a fresh start we crave, there is no better place to turn than our God who loves us so dearly. So turn to Him, allow Him to bathe you in the depths of His love, warm you in His embrace, and empower you with His Holy Spirit! And again, may I wish you a Happy New Year!
1 comment:
What would the theological word be? Rededication? Seems like we are always looking for another rebirth each new year. I'm excited when I (or I see others) find it.
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