It's only January 3rd. For many people, the true start of the new year begins next Monday when all the kids and teachers head back to school and plenty of folks who have been on a "loose" schedule since mid-December get back to work and some semblance of normalcy.
Are your Christmas decorations put away until next year?
Have the gift cards been redeemed?
Have presents been returned/exchanged for the right sizes or colors?
Are all of the tempting goodies finished, or better yet, tossed, so you can get serious about healthy eating once again?
Have you watched enough bowl games to choke a moose? (Not that I've wanted to choke a moose, mind you).
Is your budget beginning to recover after the spending spree of December?
Did you give and receive plenty of hugs from those you love?
Did 2019 end for you with a feeling of peace, contentment and personal satisfaction?
If not, there's still time to throw off the resentments, repent and ask God to forgive you of the sins you've continued to commit, stop procrastinating and be proactive about becoming all that God designed you to be.
In Ecuador, the practice of Burning the Old Man at midnight on New Year's Eve is still vivid in my memory. What a great idea! Taking all of the regrets of 2019, stuffing a set of old clothes with straw, setting a papier mache head on top, then lighting a match to the whole thing and jumping over it into the new year still seems like the perfect picture of what most of us need to do. Watch the bad stuff go up in smoke and approach 2020 with a fresh resolve.
Let's do it.
Sunday starts the first full week of this fresh calendar before us. I'm challenging myself and all of you to live in such a way that the end of 2020 will be a time for looking back with joy and thankfulness. No regrets.
Philippians 3:13-14 - "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Proverbs 3:5-6 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths."
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