2019: Now what?

As the sun rises this morning…it is 2019! What promise the day holds! It is a new day…a new chapter…in a new year.

When I woke up this morning, I was skinnier than when I went to bed…more spiritual…happier…more focused and determined…everything was perfect. No. Wait. That’s not right.

I woke up and was pretty much the same guy that went to bed…only with promise. See, when the sun set on 2018 it set the stage for a new day with new opportunities…a new promise. What a gift of grace!

Lamentations 3:22-23 remind us that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!

Today is a beautiful picture of promise. Promise of new opportunities…and with them, new responsibilities.

One thing I have learned through the years is that life is a journey, not an event. We do not go to bed broken and wake up whole. We don’t fall asleep with bitterness in our hearts and awaken with love. Life is not a microwave. It is more like a crock pot. So, with that said, let me offer three things that I hope empower us and impress on us to make 2019 a memorable year of purpose.

3 Keys to maximizing 2019

1. Know that God doesn’t waste any experiences, even the difficult ones; rather, He uses them to shape you toward a prescribed outcome. Romans 8:28-30 reminds us of this truth. Your worst failure, rightly dealt with, can be as formative for you and useful for Kingdom purposes…as your greatest triumph.
2. Tomorrow is the product of choices made yesterday and today. If yesterday, you were a “bear” of a dad…stomping around the house and thundering away at your kids…and today you apologize, repent, and seek forgiveness from God and from them…tomorrow you’ll still not be “dad-of-the-year” (no matter how many new toys you buy them) but you will be a little further along in becoming the person God is shaping you to be. Stated differently, “reinventing yourself” doesn’t mean you suddenly become someone new, but it does mean that you make a choice to change something…and enough changes result in a reinvented you.
3. The power to make 2019 better/different/amazing is in your hands. You are not a victim of some cosmic, diabolical scheme of fate. You are not stuck where you are. You are, in one sense, at a crossroads. You can go left, right, or straight. (You can even sit still but someone will start honking at you soon). No one will push you through the intersection and no one is going to magically remove the intersection from your life. What YOU do next determines where you will be in the morning. So, don’t fall prey to the idea that you’re stuck. You are not. You are, however, responsible to make a choice today. So…make it; and, when you get to the next intersection in two hours, make another choice and act on it.

Today is a gift. Receive it as such. Do something with it! If you are wise, and if God “works all things together for good,” you will likely see the value is seeking what He desires for you to DO with today…and do that. I pray today meets all of your expectations!