Fresh Start
There’s nothing magical about New Year’s Day – the first day of the year. There’s nothing special about beginning a new year, but…I do so love this time. I do so love these opportunities. Because as we mark time and days – they give us the encouragement to know – we can start afresh.
New Beginnings
New and Fresh – these words bring to our imaginations images of what to us would mean new and fresh. Whether it’s something new in a box or shiny wrapper, or it’s something fresh like coffee or an orange that when you open or slice into it the fragrance reaches you and gives you pleasure in it’s aroma.
Our lives can be full of so many wonderful things. We just need to pause and to take time to think about what we would like to see our days be filled with.
Are you a planner? Do you have lists for this and lists for that? Do you have project ideas swirling around in your head and you dream and plan to get things done – for once – this year?
This time, this place is a fresh, new beginning. A place for you to start. The date January 1st is not magical. It’s the start date you begin your process that is the launching point for your plans and goals.
Start by doing what many call a ‘brain dump’. Just write down any and everything that you can think of from big to small that you want to accomplish. Also, all those things you want to improve about yourself, your home and any other place in your life.
Group those thoughts into like categories…then narrow them down to your top three most important Goals.
These three are the ones you’ll focus on in the first quarter of this year. If we try to accomplish a bite here or a bite there on ALL of our goals, we might not finish any one of them.
And, wouldn’t you agree – the satisfaction, the pure joy of being able to check off a project as totally, completely done – is so wonderful!
So, start fresh, today. Make your list – write those important things down and realize that each day is a fresh new beginning. Do what you can with the day that you have now and, well write down at the end of this day those things that will help you to accomplish your top three and whittle those goals down one bite at a time.
2018 is behind us. We can learn a lot about our accomplishments, our goals and such. We can learn about those things that helped us move forward and those things that kept us at a standstill.
Maybe you had a few setbacks last year. Maybe you had so many things you wanted to accomplish, but life got in the way. That’s o.k., that happens to us all. This LIFE we live is not singular or stagnant. We oftentimes are called to do for others, our family and friends when we had plans to take care of our list of ‘to-do’s’.
We can be grateful that we have opportunity to be a blessing to someone else. That is what life is truly all about.
Putting our priorities in place – Jesus – Others – then, You. But, with that said, we will have those weeks, days, hours when we can dedicate ourselves to our wish-list of tasks. I believe that if we narrow them down to just a few and focus on them for a specified period of time – we can become more accomplished and live more joyously.
Do you plan to spend more time with the LORD? I think that should be the first priority for all of us who are Christians. We should all wish to spend more focused time with Him – peaceful time, prayerful time…and listening.
Sometimes during this time we can evaluate our other goals to see if they’re worthwhile and line up with what truly matters in our lives.
I do truly love this time of the year. It’s not magical, but it is a threshold to a new year full of days and full of possibilities…make yours the best you can for yourself and for those you love.
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.”
—Isaiah 55:6
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
—Isaiah 43:19