Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. {Psalm 55:22}
It’s that time of the year again. Christmas is over and the lull of a whole week has come before the great New Year’s day is here. It’s a great time to set up goals and make mental or written lists of what we would like to get accomplished in the coming year. They say 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February, but that shouldn’t deter us from setting them up nevertheless. Even if only 8% of us end up accomplishing them that sure is better than nothing. The question is how to be one of those 8%? They say to keep it simple. So many of us plunge into listing every thing we want to accomplish and then get overwhelmed by them. We also make vague lists like: lose weight, save money, eat healthier, spend more time with family and friends, etc. We do not get specific enough and create a plan. For example in losing weight we should map out our weight target, due dates when we want to have this accomplished, and what we’re going to do about it. Maybe go to the gym twice a week and join a work out class, or do some cycling? We need to get specific and then schedule our goals.
Speaking of making it simple, I remember setting up a goal to write 30 songs in 2016 and planned on sitting down an hour each day to do this. At the end of the year I was actually able to write 88 songs. I didn’t always sit down for an hour of course because writing a song is not like a walk in the park or eating a cupcake. It is work. What flesh likes work? It is a rewarding work I must admit and so fulfilling for me. Still, it’s work and there have been times I sat for an hour and nothing would come to me. But I tried nevertheless every week to write at least 5 songs and listing them on my calendar after I have recorded them into my GarageBand software. I couldn’t even believe it when I started tallying up my songs in July, that I already had written 51 songs. I figured, why stop just because I’ve reached my goal? So I continued to write, and by the end of 2016 I had written 88 songs. Well, this year in 2017 I got really ambitious and thought I will write 100 songs! A hundred songs doesn’t seem so impossible anymore considering I was able to write 88 songs. But something about that goal boomeranged on me. It was psychologically daunting to me I think, because it’s three days before New Year’s Eve and I only have 34 songs written. Even with that I had to get reinforcement from the Lord and ask Him to help me reach my previous goal of 30. If it wasn’t for the Lord I wouldn’t even have 34. Last week during my hour of praise and songs to Him, He told me to write a song. Every time I sat down and sang a few songs to Him in a little while He’d tell me in my spirit, “Now write a song.” And so I did. I was able to write 6 songs. That’s how I ended up surpassing the 30 songs mark I had set the year before. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do it. The Lord helped me.
This experience has taught me something about setting goals and accomplishing them: make it simple and get the Lord involved. Set goals that are simple, attainable, and then talk to the Lord about them. Ask Him for help. Better yet, ask Him what goals we should set because He knows us better than anyone, even better than we know ourselves. He knows what we should be working on to better ourselves and what will inspire us to accomplish them. He is more than able to help us and He loves it too when we get Him involved. I found again and again that getting the Lord involved with my plans and talking to Him about it pleases Him. Because He loves us so much and His desire is to see us happy.
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. {Psalm 37:4-5}
Prayer
Father, You love us so much and Your desire for us is to see us prosper and happy in this life. The main condition is to love You and to talk to You all the time so that You will be able to help us. Father, in this new year that’s coming up, please Lord Jesus, help us to set goals that will bring glory to Your name. Help us to have You involved with our goal setting and look to You for everything. Help us to set talking to You and spending time with You as one of our goals and please Savior, help us to accomplish it. Help us to accomplish a closer walk with You this year and increase in our faith in You. I pray this in Your most wonderful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.