Fresh Start
Well, it’s now officially a new year. Once again a new set of 365 days. A new set of time. Time for change, for growth and for broken promises.
Each year, gyms across the country hit an all time high of memberships during the start of the year. By about march they hit a scarcity of attending members. Why? Broken promises. Yes, with the new year comes practically new anything. New resolutions? New goals? New ______? Fill in the blank with what you’re hooked up on this time of year. Something I ask myself is why people over and over keep applying for these year long gym memberships, only to go for the first three months and get lazy for the remaining 9 months of membership. And it’s not like they realize their mistakes after one year, year and year again you’ll find the same people applying for the same year-long gym memberships and stopping after three months.
Pondering this paradox I came to one final answer. Why? Because maybe this time is different. Maybe… maybe not. Although most of the time we fall under the category of “maybe not”, at least we gave it a try. There’s a saying that goes, “for good men to go bad, they need only do nothing at all.” Picking up the attitude of “there’s no point in trying because I know I won’t accomplish my goal” is worse than trying and failing over and over. Although you may think you’re being logical by “saving time” or “saving money”, you’ll end up missing out on a simple lesson: Perseverance. 3Not only so, but we[a] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)
So why perseverance? Why should we keep trying to run faster than Donovan Bailey, or swim faster than Ian Thorpe. Why should we keep trying to jump over the hurdle we trip over every time, why do we even try opening a locked door without a key. Why should we fight against 135,000 when we only have 300, why should we blow our trumpets at a brick wall. Why? Because the lord leads us under his perfect and pleasing will. Maybe it seems futile that we should keep trying at something we never seem to be able to get right, but if we don’t try at all, we have no chance at all. Something will never happen without attempting.
It doesn’t matter how unlikely something may seem to you. Even if you see a small 0.001% chance, guess what God sees. God sees a choice. A choice between whether what happens is in His will or not. No slim chance is too small, nor certainty to great for Him to change what you think will happen. He who imagined the sun and gives source to its light, he who placed the stars in the sky and he who tells lightning bolts where to strike (ref, indescribable – Tomlin), yet you still doubt in his power to change who you are.
This being said, why join the gym if you know you’re going to just be paying for nothing once you stop going a fourth of the way in. Why give God another chance if you think He’s been holding out on you all this time. Why? Because a “maybe” is definitely better than a “never”. Give it a chance, I guarantee, you’ll be much closer to success than you might think.
Happy new years guys, I hope this is one where you can all grow and see things in a better light than you have before. This being said… I’ve picked up a lot of fat from holiday eating… maybe I should look into these gym memberships =). God bless.
alright. so here are my resolutions derek:
1. get along with my family.
2. dont do bad things..
3. eat healthy & exercise more.
4. get things right with God.
5. dont slack off in school.
those are pretty good resolutions!! haha =D oh. and thanks for the talk(s).
Posted by
Phoebe Mak |
1/1/06 6:42 PM