New Year, New Chances

I love the quote by John Newton:

I am not what I ought to be,
I am not what I want to be,
but by Gods grace, I am not who I used to be.

When a new year approaches, it’s a time many of us give thought to making a change. We consider area’s in which we’d like to grow, then set out our goals and plans. Because as the quote implies, we are making progress. If we are not be in the place we want to be, prayerfully, we are moving in that direction.

The book, “Three Little Decisions” may be a useful tool for this time of year. Every day we make a myriad of decisions, about the course of our life, about our health and about relationships. Each chapter in this book allows us an opportunity to make small steps, little decisions that point us in a better direction. This is how we move forward. Step by step.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 4:

“How will we ever get a task completed if we wait to start next week or until after the holidays? How often do we suppress difficult matters simply because they are distasteful or uncomfortable? It strikes me, we put off doing something important because it feels too big. Write an overdue letter, reach out after an argument, eat healthier, take a class to progress our career… It’s easy to believe we’re too tired, too busy or too broken to accomplish very much. As a result, projects pile up, as does frustration when those tasks go unfinished What might we accomplish if we stopped waiting and just did it today. Could we take one step in that direction?”

Let’s not wait to make decisions, thinking it will be easier tomorrow. It will not. Instead we can make small decisions today, decisions that will move us the way we want to go.