Now that the new year is well under way, we wanted to offer you some encouragement as you pursue your goals. Did you make any resolutions this year?
45% of Americans usually make New Year’s Resolutions.
17% of Americans infrequently make them.
38% absolutely never make them.
According to the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology, the Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions for 2014 are:
1) Lose weight
2) Get organized
3) Spend less and save more
4) Enjoy life to the fullest
5) Stay fit and healthy
6) Learn something exciting
7) Quit smoking
8) Help others achieve their dreams
9) Fall in love
10) Spend more time with family
Whether you are one to make New Year’s Resolutions or not, each new year brings us an opportunity to reflect on the past year and to look forward to what is to come.
As you get in to the swing of this new year, we would like to encourage you to be careful not to over-commit yourselves. When we say “yes” to too many things, we can also end up saying “no” to time alone with God. Don’t make the mistake of trying to make God fit into your already busy schedule; instead, build your schedule around your time with God! This can be quite a challenge for all of us, so let’s encourage one another.
As we begin the new year, let us be sure to spend more time with the Lord and to be wise when making commitments. And when we get overwhelmed, let us remember just how much our Father loves us. We can rest in his care.
“And he said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.’”
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| Image from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1330413 |
Luke 12:22-31 (ESV)
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