Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. (1 Tim. 6:17-18)

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

New Day, New Way

Photo by LeSimonPix
Happy New Year

The ball has dropped. Auld Lang Syne has been sung. Fireworks have lit up the sky. The confetti has littered the streets. The significant others got kissed.

This past weekend marked the official start of a new year. A time of fresh starts. A time of new beginnings. I don't know about you, but I really like this time of year. For the most part, many of us have gone through a downtime during this holiday season, recharged our "life batteries," and now we can gear up and head back out into the world with a fresh vision of what we would like to accomplish in this new year of 2012.

I Don't Care What You Call Them

Goals...Resolutions...Life Improvements. Honestly, I don't care what you call them, but there's no better time than the start of a new year to focus on some areas of your life that need to change.

Many of us have some "Big Ideas" in our lives that we would like to accomplish. Many of us have bad habits that have creeped into our lives that need to go. Some of us may have had dreams that have died in the last year or two and we need a new beginning point to just start over on a dream or create a new one.

God's Word tells us that "where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). Each and every one of us needs a vision, a direction for our lives. Otherwise, we have a tendency to wander around, aimless in this life. Is God calling you to a vision to accomplish for His Kingdom through your life in 2012 and beyond?

Paint A Picture

The best advice I ever received about goal setting was the concept of visualizing where you wanted to be at the end of your goal. For example, if you want to be physically fit, then you need to picture a "thinner" you with rock hard abs! Or, if you want to be debt free with an emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses in the bank, then you need to picture a personal balance sheet that shows zero debt and money in the bank! Perhaps, you have a vision of doing a better job of leading your children in their spiritual walk; then you need to picture spending time teaching your kids at home and taking them to church each week.

A really good way to do this is to take these mental pictures and create a physical picture collage of your goals. With today's technology, this can be really easy to do. You can do word/picture searches on the web, save those specific pictures to your hard drive, and then assemble them in photo processing or other program.

Or, you could go the "old fashion way" by finding some pictures that relate to your vision(s) in old magazines, cut those out, and assemble them in a life journal. Or, you could assemble these vision pictures on some poster board and place said board in a prominent place for you to see your vision for 2012 on a regular, daily basis.

So, have you spent any time, yet, thinking about your goals for this new year? Do you have a clear vision of what God has for you to accomplish in 2012? If yes, have you come up with some strategies to help keep this vision in front of you for the next 12 months? If not, I would encourage you to consider creating some type of physical visualization of your goals for the new year and look at it on a regular basis. My prayer for you and for me today is that we can accomplish awesome things for God's Kingdom this year!

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