Well, here we are, at the end of one crazy year. Most people saying that they can’t wait for 2020 to be behind us. What did 2020 look like for you? Did you lose a loved one? Did you welcome a newborn into the world? Did you deal with incredible stress? Did you remain calm through the storm? Will you breathe a sigh up relief when the virtual ball drops in a zoom meeting tonight? Do you look forward to 2021 more in a, “well, it can’t be any worse” kind of way, or do you say, “bring on 2021, I look forward to a great year?”

Did you grow in 2020? Have you become a more caring person or a better educated person? Have you grown in your relationship with God or have you struggled to see Him in the storm?

Remember your resolutions from last year? Did you…take that trip? Read more books? Spend more quality time with your kids? Eat healthier? Lose that weight you wanted? Create and stick to a budget? What was your resolution? How does that look now? What’s the excuse? Are we blaming the corona? Some things were beyond our control, yes, but more weren’t.

We can’t just go making resolution after resolution every year and look back and say, well…. that’s because….

Are we still going to make resolutions this year? And what will we be saying when 2022 shows up? Well… that’s because?

Can we try and make a resolution that 2021 will be different? Not because the corona won’t be as bad or that now the elections are behind us, but because we are going to assume responsibility for our own stuff. If we can’t keep resolutions, why are we making them? If we are just setting ourselves up for failure, then let’s stop. No, it’s not better to continually make resolutions and then fail. It’s not, “well, at least I ate well for January!” When we continually see ourselves as not being able to follow through, as though we failed again, our self-image takes hit after hit. We get accustomed to failure, and that’s not good, and it’s not healthy.

You can control a lot of your life. You need to live your life, and not let the world live it for you. Let’s start out by making fewer and less intense resolutions. Let’s make a resolution that you can look at and say, “that’s easy!” Let’s start waking up 15 minutes earlier in the morning. Let’s stay off our phones until we’ve at least gotten dressed. Let’s tell our kids that we love them, every single day! Let’s not bring the entire bag of kids to the living room. Grab a bowl and fill it, and that’s it! Let’s set realistic weight loss goals. Let’s drink more water. Let’s take a walk every day, it doesn’t have to be a mile, just get out there!

Most importantly, let’s spend more time with the One who loves and cares for you more than anyone! Read a devotional every day. Put your Bible on your breakfast table and read it while you eat. It’s so much easier going through life when you know God’s got your back. It helps give you the confidence to approach a new day. You no longer fret over the minutia but tend to see the bigger picture. You become a more caring and less judgmental person. You become a light in someone else’s day.

I am not going to be looking to 2021 as some new breath of fresh air. I am not going to be hoping for a fresh pair of rose-tinted glasses. The world is a mess. That won’t change at midnight. There are good people and there are bad people. There are people that think they are good but they’re not. Many people go through life thinking to themselves, well, at least I’ve never done (fill in the blank).

We can’t approach life thinking, “I’m not that bad!” We can all find someone to compare ourselves to and say that. How about we approach life thinking, “How can I make a positive difference in someone’s life? How can I help someone?” A life lived for others is a life well-lived. It’s a purposeful life, an important life, a life that has meaning and purpose. It’s a life we can be proud of when it comes time to look back.

I don’t think 2021 is going to bring the sigh of relief many expect. I think it will continue to present challenge after challenge. But I am not going to let those challenges drag me down. I go into 2021 knowing I’ve got a God who loves me more than anything! I know that He will work things out for my good. He won’t stop the bad from happening, but He will turn the bad around and not only get me through it but have me better off on the other side. He does NOT bring the bad, He loves us. But He helps us through it and strengthens us and grows us.

I’m not to go on a rant about people saying, “everything happens for a reason” beyond saying that is nonsense. (I’ll deal with that in my next book).

This post is not meant to be a downer. It’s trying to give you a flashlight, a way to see through the muck and mire to the other side. God is good, and He loves YOU! He is walking through your day alongside you. If you choose not to even acknowledge Him, He’s still there. He’s still loving you. But think how much more amazing this life would be, and your life in particular if you had a real, authentic and personal relationship with the One walking with you? How much less stress you would be feeling, how confident you would be in your future. We don’t just get there without intention though. We need to talk to the One who made us! When we have that relationship in a healthy place, life is so different. We aren’t angry at 2020. We aren’t looking for a calendar change to make life better. We already see where it’s going. We already know who writes the final chapter. Our mission is to firstly have that relationship, and secondly to try and help others find that relationship as well. We do that by loving them!

My prayer for you this year is that your relationship with God grows stronger. That you understand the importance of your spirit. That you develop the heart for serving others more than you have. That you don’t let the ways of the world drag you down. That you love on your kids even more than you already do. That you develop a deeper sense of purpose and meaning in your life. I pray that as we turn the page from 2021 into 2022, that you will look back on this coming year and smile.

God Bless You!