Raise your hand if you have already messed up on the changes you decided to make in 2018.
Really?! You too? I thought I was the only one!
I don’t make resolutions anymore for this very reason. I make things easier and choose just one word or theme to focus on to improve my life. Seems so simple.
Turns out, I can screw that up too!
So here I am, being so very human and feeling like I can’t do anything right. I can’t even go a couple days without slipping back into my old comfy place. The place where nothing grows. I’m beating myself up about how much discipline I lack.
“Lord, I’m such a failure! I can’t even make it a week without failing!”
I felt like giving up. Already.
What’s the point? I set out to do something and I didn’t do it. Barely even a week into the New Year and I wish I could start over. I wish I didn’t have a blemish already.
That’s when God reminded me of three things to make a do-over not only possible, but Biblical.
God Doesn’t Work On A Timeline
He’s eternal. There’s no 2018 on God’s time. There’s no New Year to celebrate or agenda to keep. Sure, he separated the day from the night and set the Earth into a rhythm of 365. But that was for our feeble little human minds to help compartmentalize our lives.
If we’re living for eternity, then a couple days in January when life got a little nuts and we lost focus of our goals is a mere speck compared to God’s grand scheme of things.
And since He doesn’t have a timeline, anytime is a good time for a fresh start.
God is Omnipresent
It doesn’t matter if you’re at work or in the car on the way, God is there for your turn-around. I used to tell my kids that God is everywhere, even in the bathtub. They used to think that was silly, but God has shown up in big ways many times while I was in the shower.
There’s no place like the present to get a do-over. Don’t wait to get home from work, vacation or even to finish reading this paragraph. If you need a fresh start, take it now! God’s here. And He’s staying here. He’s waiting for you to make the move.
God’s Mercy is New Every Morning Not Just On January 1st.
This one is my favorite. Nothing screams “fresh start” like a beautiful sunrise. Early morning dew. Crisp, clean air.
And, oh so many nights I have gone to bed feeling deflated, defeated, exhausted and discouraged only to wake up feeling refreshed and hopeful for a new day. I am not a morning person and I never will be, but I have found myself clinging to the promise of a new day more times than I can count. It helps me to know that however I failed today, I get a clean slate in the morning. Every day of the year.
So, we’re only a few days into a brand new year and I am bound to screw up another 364 times. But I know that our God is always there ready to give fresh mercies whenever we need them.
Forever and ever. Amen.
I’d love to hear from you. Check out the comments and let me know how God is working already in your life in 2018.
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Thank you for the reminder that God is eternal and has no timeline.