"A New Year, A New You."
Anyone ever heard that slogan? I have, many times...I think it might be for a weight loss company or something. While I am sure they mean well, this was ringing in my head all morning and I felt the need to sit and write about what does a new you actually look like?
This is the day, for some of us, a few weeks, when we often evaluate ways to improve ourselves. We cringe at that bathroom scale knowing exactly which holiday treat it was that pushed us over the number we promised not to hit. We see some things in our own personalities that we know if we would improve upon that we would surely raise amazing, well-adjusted, giving, genius children.
We see the homes of our friends and resolve that this is The Year that I will not leave for work, church, errands, school or elsewhere with a dirty disaster of a house and this will most definitely be the year that I make more time for God.
You all know exactly where I am going with this one...we could stop there and come back here next week this time and well it's not then it’s not a new year anymore...it would now be Jan. 7th and those things are barely an afterthought!
Why is that? Why are we such highly motivated people, yet with so little will power to stick it out?
See, I don't think it is a matter of will power at all. I think that the problem is actually the motivating factor behind our desire to be new in a New Year.
When I think about it, I am not actually sure God really wants me to be a new me. I think he likes the me he created just the way he created me. He made me this way for a reason, right? Well, before you get all crazy and think, "yahoo, no need for self-improvement, the mold cannot be duplicated any better than this baby"- let me offer this.
In my prayer today, aka shower time(only time I get peaceful prayer), I felt God leading my heart to find out what he has to say about me being a new.
I found this just sitting on my own blog waiting for me today as a Biblepromise.com hyperlink. It is 1 Corinthians 2:12 and it reads
You know all those things we try to do for ALL the wrong reasons. Maybe they are good things to do(spending time with kids, weight loss, charity work) but without the right motivation they are fruitless. It is literally like trying to walk around in the dark and get anything done.
If I understand this then with the spirit of God being my motivation, I should be able to overcome these things. I think this is so hard because we are consumed with all the wrong reasons. At least I know I am.
I started brainstorming about why it is that I would like for there to be less of more around my middle. And honestly it is so I will look better in that bathing suit in the summer and not hate myself in pictures. Sure maybe health is a part of it, but it certainly is not because I revere my body as the temple God created it to be.
When I think about stepping onto that Stairmaster I am not thinking temple. I am thinking I hate this body and I hate that I have to get on this Stairmaster to not look like this. My motivation is all wrong.
When I look at my children I don't think, “wow, I would like for them to have the very best I have to offer because God has gifted them to me and blessed my life with the chance to guide and mold them towards God good plan for their lives.” I think guilty thoughts over not spending enough time with them and so I must try harder to do better to not feel guilty, or I am thinking I really want my family or my friends to see them acting with good character or wonder why we are such awesome parents-come on let's be honest. Don't we all secretly wish that?
At our most desperate parent moments when we don't know what to do or we have been trying our own way and it hasnt been working. We start to panic and pray things like, "please God, just don't let them turn out as criminals. I just don't know what else to do."
I find myself lowering my own expectations, not of my children or my desire for them, but of myself so it is easier to achieve. God doesn’t do fear, guilt or frustration, so my motivation is all wrong. And boy am I glad that God doesn’t lower his expectations of what he can do with me. I would rather try and fall short and learn and try again then to have a one shot God who accepts no re-do’s.
God created me exactly the way he wants me. Yes, no doubt that sin and experiences in my life have led me down paths which may have melted that mold away from what His desire and intent for me was, but God does do new, forgiveness, compassion and love better that anyone.
So while new may not be what God wants for us, refined might be a better word. He wants to take the perfect mold, plus the choices (good and bad) and the sin that has led our motivation astray and he wants to refine that into something that only he can make.
What does the refined you look like? Notice that the word "fine" is in there! Keeping the fine he has already done and letting Him be the one to make you a little more polished.
Keep the old you; it's the perfect place to start. Motivate yourself with God's good intentions for you and offer to him whatever part of your life that needs refining.
Ask God to restore the temple he has blessed you with. If your temple has scars and lines and stretch marks thank him for those experiences and ask him to be your motivation to make your temple into exactly what he desires it to be.
If you know you are not being the godly wife or parent he desires of you then ask yourself what your motivation is. Then ask God to be your motivation so that you can parent with godly intention for the right reason- to raise them to seek Him. He has given you an open invitation…don’t be shy…he loves you and has said “Ask it unto me and you shall receive.”
When God is at the center of every shortcoming we feel, it is no longer a shortcoming. Once you have asked God to start working on it in your life; let's just say you can start getting excited, because while He does work on His own timeline, in your best interest, He never disappoints.
If you need something truly new in your life ask God to lead you to what he wants you to do. Sometimes we just crave newness and change and sometimes he puts that desire there for us because he needs us to step out. If we took that desire and asked God to be a part of it then he might very well lead you to the answer you didn’t know you were looking for.
We can safely look to Him, try something new and not worry. If it is the wrong path, if we misunderstood, he knows we tried. He knows our intentions, but if it is the right path what blessings for our lives could be awaiting us.
You can rest assured of one thing; while we are all wishing each other happiness and joy in the New Year, God is sitting right there beside you waiting, ready and able to make it happen.
If you’re not a fan of greens or black-eyed peas, maybe pass on those today and don't feel all weird about it. I really hate collards and have no intention to eat them! Know that while every moment of this year may not be filled with happiness, love or even good health that you have the real assurance of a God who wants to spend this year and every year with you and has every hope for your life to be blessed, to bless others and to make great impact for him. Let his perfect wisdom be your can’t lose motivating factor.
Do you know how much he loves you!
New Year Blessings,
Laurie
