What is it about January 1st that gets people reevaluating their lives? I’m doing it. Why? It is just one more day on the calendar, but there is something about the beginning of something that makes me want to take a hard look at my life and figure out how to make it better.
Without stopping, or just slowing down, and examining 2011 how can I hope to improve on the areas that need improvement?
Usually, around this time of year, I think about the illustration of how to fit a few big rocks and tons of pebbles into a bucket. If you put the small pebbles in first, the big ones will never all fit. If you make space for the larger rocks first, there will be plenty of space for the smaller rocks.
I know that my life is full of small pebbles. They seem to be everywhere. I am pretty good at just making space for those things simply because I haven’t taken the time to figure out what really matters to me.
Being a production person, I spend a lot of time reacting to other people’s plans…small pebbles. As technical artists in the local church, much of what we do is responding to the needs of the moment…small pebbles. This part of my existence is inescapable. But what can tend to happen for me is that it becomes my entire reality. As a leader of a ministry, I can’t afford…my team can’t afford for me to get wrapped up in only responding. If you are leading a team, they need you to spend time on bigger issues. Improving a process…large rock. Planning retreat…large rock. Recruiting more volunteers…large rock.
One of my ideas for my own life involves a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.”
I can’t tell you how much time I can waste, simply because I don’t have a plan for how to use my spare moments. I don’t want to waste them this year. This doesn’t mean I can’t relax or take it easy, but it does mean that those moments will be strategic instead of just happening because I haven’t thought it through.
Coming up with a plan is one thing. Sticking to it is an entirely different matter. Here is the kicker for me: the power that God used to raise Christ from the dead is available to me. This past weekend, Blaine Hogan, one of Willow’s creative directors quoted 2 Peter 1:3 in the service:
3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
Spending time coming up with the resolutions necessary for a full life is one huge hurdle. Sticking with them is an entirely different challenge. When I am faced with the choice of following through with a resolution or disregarding it, I have been trying to remind myself of the power at my disposal to choose what I have resolved to do.
Have you set aside time to identify what the most important things in your life are?
When you do, remember that God has given you everything you need for a godly life?
