Gleanings…

Well, it’s the end of another year.  Is there anything that you planned to do that did not get done?  So many of our years start out well and we have such good intentions, but something happens along the way and we end up watching most of our resolutions freeze and then melt away.  Maybe we need to spend some time this month looking for a way to improve our track record.

How do you decide what your resolutions for the year will be?  Do you look at what didn’t get done last year and decide to try again?  Has someone told you about the success they had putting a new practice in place and you thought it sounded like something you would like to do?  Maybe you have spent time looking at the top ten resolutions for the year and decided to try one or two of them.  If so, looks like it will be another disappointing year.

Resolutions are not “one size fits all”—not even close.  Instead, they are as unique and individual as we are.  So, it pays to spend a little time selecting what new and potentially exciting change we will undertake so as to be a better person going forward.  Most of all, we should ask for help and not from just anybody, we need to ask God.

Okay, I can hear it already—I just went from preaching to meddling.  Well, maybe, and maybe not.  Seriously, who wants you to be the best you can be more than God does?  After all, if it hadn’t been for God’s meddling in your life, where would you be today?  It just makes sense that if we truly want to be better, there’s no better person to ask than the one who formed us and breathed life into us.  And, God won’t steer you wrong.

So, here are a few ideas that you might include in your prayers for guidance.  How can we include any or all of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control into a course of action for the new year?  Yes, these are the fruit of the Spirit, but we can always learn new ways to incorporate them into our daily lives.  And, I expect they will help us more than the items on anyone’s “top ten” list.

So much of the world wants their lives to be better.  May our witness be that God’s gifts help us to be just that—renewed, restored, reenergized, and revitalized to give glory to God.

Happy Advent,

Pastor Braxton ><>