I
haven’t seen it in the belt line yet because I have been wearing my
“comfortable” pants. You know the ones with “more room” due to expandable
waistlines or they are just a size larger. Take your pick or combine all three
the day of reckoning is coming.
A
new year with new/old resolutions to shape up, slim down, tone and be healthy,
pray more, give more, be better etc. We will start out that first day all on
fire, “gung ho” and then comes the second day with less energy and a bit less
enthusiasm, then the third and finally the fourth where we throw our hands up
in defeat and give up. It is just too hard. We did this last year and the year
before and the year before that. Good intentions and a fast start just no drive
or sustain to follow through. What went wrong?
Consider
the year just past, how did you make it to the end? Time went the same speed it
always has with 24 hours in a day, 168 hours each week and 52 weeks coming in
at 8736 hours in a year. How did you make it through all of those hours? You
made it through one minute at a time, when life was hard maybe one second at a
time. There is an old saying adage, “How do you eat and elephant?” the answer
is the obvious “one bite at a time.” When we break down and large task or
amount into smaller pieces we can set mile posts to measure our progress.
Everyday has 24 hours but we count down until our break, then lunch, then
mid-afternoon break and then quitting time. It helps if those hours are filled
with activity, something to do. I have always hated being on a clock with
little to do. The time seems to go so slow! It really doesn’t but it sure seems
like that.
Taking
a large task and breaking it into smaller pieces makes it seem more “manage”
able, more “do” able and more “complete” able. Reduced to the most basic of
components, change one thing to start. Add a short walk to your day, read one
chapter in scripture, pray at every meal in your own words, pass on desert at
lunch, break your day into sections. Make those sections ones of time or task
and when you conclude a section (if possible) move on to the next. That allows
you to pace yourself and measure your progress.
That
is exactly how God works in our lives. When we receive the gift of Christmas
Jesus Christ as our savior and Lord God does not instantly change us into the
image of Jesus. If he did we would immediately move to heaven. No, that is not
the process. It is much slower than that. It is requires a lifetime to complete
with many sub sections along the way, one step at a time in a slow methodical
pace always moving forward even when we don’t think so. The key to completing
is to keep our eye on the prize and to pace ourselves right behind the Holy
Spirit.
That’s
how we are to eat a meal; take your time, talk with family and friends, rest
between courses, enjoy yourselves. When we do that we don’t eat as much and
enjoy the food and the people so much more. That is the first step to completing
one of those New Year’s resolutions. See it was a smaller piece and not so
hard!
Have
a safe and Happy New Year!
In
HIS Service and Yours,
BroG 
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