We've been having a wonderful time with our family. All our children have been at home with us for the last 10 days – children and grandchildren. It's been such a wonderful time spent enjoying each other – the joy of being together. Yesterday while I was in my bedroom my granddaughter walked in and said, "Look, Grandpa, bubbles!" She was blowing bubbles with a contraption she had. She was enjoying the bubbles of different sizes – how they would rise in the air, fall back down and of course, burst. She played around for a while and then left the room.
I was watching these bubbles hit the ground and burst and couldn't help but think that sometimes New Year greetings are like that. We cross over into the New Year and there's a short period almost like a little bubble, that brings us some delight putting everything else on hold. We are able to say, "Happy New Year" to everybody and that's our little bubble. But eventually work catches up with us; things that we left off in the old year are still around in the New Year waiting for resolutions and stuff like that. The bubble bursts and we need to carry on with life.
I realize however, that to think of a bubble bursting as just another day in our lives is to have an almost pessimistic view – looking at a glass and saying it's half-empty rather than half-full. I thought that there are already enough opportunities around us—whether in people, or situations and circumstances—for one to talk of the pessimism of a New Year and how fleeting some of the wishes can be and how it doesn't change too many things.
But it made me think about books and chapters. The New Year does have potential and we need to be able to recognize that potential. When you look at a book and read through the different chapters, you see situations being introduced and how those situations unfold, or grow and evolve. Situations emerge and may be handled well or badly; either way, resultant consequences emerge – further decisions must now be made and again, those decisions can be either good or bad. Ultimately, the matter is kind of brought to a rest because all available resources have been used up through characters and creativity. The author has introduced a disruption as it were, but is beginning to bring it to some kind of an end without the complete resolution found at the end of the book. The author is simply saying – yes, all this has happened, but now we turn the page into a new chapter. This new chapter may still have the old problems, but now the author has the opportunity to introduce a new set of characters, variables or resources to enable the issues of the previous chapter to be handled differently.
The new chapter then begins and we can feel the excitement, anticipation, new strategy and how the story is moving further. We can look ahead and probably even see acceptable resolutions, moving us towards the end of the book. That's what a new chapter can do for us. While it in no way takes away from the things of the past, it does help us to look at the same issues through a different light. And we must. We ought not to shift into a helpless or detached mode, or a que sera, sera (whatever will be, will be) attitude saying, "The New Year has come and I'm just going to move on with it." We have an opportunity to put on a new pair of lenses, take a fresh look at the issues and say, "What can I do with the New Year? It's a new chapter. I get to write a new script. How can I write it well?" I think that would be a much better way of looking at the New Year and all the issues with it rather than seeing them as burst bubbles.
How do we do that? I think I could offer you 3 ways; hit "Pause" for just a minute:
1. Look at all the issues that surround us, maybe take a paper and write them down. Then ask the question: What worked well for me in 2015? What did I do that was good?
Did you make a friend where you commit to friendship? Did you decide to be more assertive? How did that work for you? Did you do a new course or go into an educational institution and learn something new? Did you begin to use a new software program? Whatever! Just take those things that have worked well for you and put them on paper.
2. Then look at issues that didn't work well. What was it that you had trouble with? Either leave it out or change it. It could be anything. It could be a strategy that you use for business. Or perhaps you had decided last that you would handle colleagues or interact with your boss in a certain manner, and it has not worked out well. It might be the finances or investments you made with your money, or even investments you made in terms of relationships that haven't gone well. Or even how you handled different situations. Ask yourself the question – did they work or did they not? If they didn't work, see whether you can leave them out of 2016, or change or tweak them.
3. What needs to be added? What can you add in 2016 that can give fresh value to the things that you do? Do you need to add friends? Do you need to actively go out and make friends with people and increase your circle of people you know and rely on, people who will invest into you? Do you need to study a little bit more, get into the academic world and acquire new knowledge? Or do you need to invest in a new relationship, or a more permanent relationship than you have had – choose a spouse or begin to actively think in those terms? Do you perhaps need a new strategy in your firm, a business strategy that should help you work better?
Ask yourself these questions. Look at 2016 as a new chapter, one that you can write and say, "This is a new chapter. How can I make it an effective chapter, one that will bring wonderful resolutions to the things that I couldn't do in 2015?"
Then, remember this. The Almighty God is with us. That's one of the enduring things that came out of Christmas – we call it Emmanuel (God with us). Recognize that He is proactive in our lives and He will help us to make the right decisions. But we need to take the initiative. We need to look at our year. Five days into it and maybe you're beginning to think it's just another year. But it's only 5 days out of 365. Those 360 will still count. It's up to you and me to say, "We're not going to let this meander into just another year. I'm going to take the oars. I'm going to chart my course." Then rely on the Almighty God for wisdom in doing so.
That's my prayer for each one of you, my friends. May I pray with you?
Almighty God, give to us wisdom and the ability to see what we must do for this year, what changes we need, what needs to be enhanced, what we ought to celebrate. And as always, we rely on You to show us those things. Help us not only to recognize them, but give us the will to follow through in the decisions that we make. We ask this prayer in Your Name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
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