January Has No Power (re-post)

It’s the New Year and everyone’s revved up about new changes for the year ahead. We’re setting new goals, burying old habits, creating new pathways, and building better futures. The month of January (particularly January 1st) inspires in us a sense of revival and renewal, which makes us feel we can conquer the world (or at least the forthcoming year). Yet there’s only one problem.

There’s an oversight we fail to see in January that becomes vividly clear to us in February, March, and so on. That oversight is this…

“God doesn’t alter His plans in our lives just because January comes around.”

 

That’s why come February, March, and so on; our goals, resolutions, and well-laid-out plans start to fade, or fall by the wayside. The blistery winds of life blow us back into reality. And the reality is, whatever season of life we’re experiencing is ours to “grow” through. It can’t be altered, dismissed, or placed on hold. It’s here for our good, though sometimes it doesn’t feel so good.

Established last year, the Department expands generic overnight viagra neurological care to patients who have not shown significant progress even after consuming tamoxifen. According to surveys, more than half of men sample cialis above 60 years. Because a fertile sperm cell takes three months to fully develop, fathers should kick the habit 12 weeks ahead of conceiving to avoid the levitra without rx risk. A blend viagra cheap usa of the bile and pancreatic juice travels throughout the particular muscle valve into the duodenum. Waving our magic wands in January doesn’t change the status of God’s plan in motion. Though there’s nothing wrong with allowing the New Year to inspire us to set new goals, make resolutions, or bury old habits. We should always motivate ourselves to be the best we can be. However, the key is not to get caught up or be totally reliant upon our self-made plans. There’s a higher plan in motion, which takes precedence over anything we can conjure up for ourselves.

Therefore, instead of putting all our eggs in the January basket only to fall flat on our faces come February; we should allow the year to unfold for us the growth and achievements which God has intended.

NOTE: This is a re-post of one of my favorite blog posts I’ve written. It’s a much needed reminder for me (and hopefully for you) whenever January comes around.

Watercolor Photo by Stuart Miles

12 thoughts on “January Has No Power (re-post)

  1. First, let me say that I am very proud of you. Your words are so powerful. I love this re-post because every year I aim to be a better person than the previous year, while trusting God that whatever He blesses me with, is fit for me. And I thank Him every day for doing so.

    • Thank you, Sharon, for your kind words. I truly appreciate it. Plus, like you, I aim to be a better person than the previous year, too. Yet, I have to constantly remind myself there’s a higher plan in motion for me that my human eyes can’t see.

  2. Very nice post that bears repeating. Perfect way to start the year. I too aim to improve with each year. While I have things in mind, I’m learning GOD’s plan may be totally different.
    Btw….I’m very proud of the both of you, Dee and Shay. You are a couple of awesome ladies with whom I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a dear friendship with that across the many miles, means so much to me

  3. Amen to post and replies. The older I get, and the more loved ones I lose to God in Heaven, the more I grow in my faith and learn to surrender to God’s will. It’s not worth fighting Him to get my way because His way is always the best way.

    Many blessings to the new year!

    • Ellen, blessings to you, too, for the new year. And you’re quite right, it’s so not worth fighting God to get our way. That’s usually a fight we’re bound to lose. His way prevails and that’s as it should be for our own good.

  4. Happy New Year!

    I think I remember the original posting of this, and if memory serves (and it may not be serving at all), I was inspired by it back then, too. If I’m totally in err, it must be one of your other inspirational posts throughout the years.

    I’m all for allowing God’s plan to unfold as it should. Whenever I don’t, things get a little helter-skelter, and that doesn’t feel good at all.

    Have a great January!

    • Mike, I hear ya on the whole helter-skelter. That’s when things feel quite horrible. If only we could stay out of our own way and particularly stay out of God’s way then life would be a bit easier and a lot happier.

  5. Love this. I think sometimes we like to think that we’re in control and that’s why we get so disappointed when we don’t reach our goals. But sometimes, we don’t reach those goals for a reason that we can’t see at the time. God definitely has plans that we aren’t always privy to! Very timely post. Awesome, awesome, awesome. I needed this.

  6. January has no power, but it is a good marker for us to make changes in our lives, and as you said, God-led changes. For me, each year has a focus that I work toward throughout the year, and it helps to have those focuses in the beginning of the new year. They then, often times, become a way of life afterward. Like one year was, “Trust God in all things,” another one was getting my finances in order. Those were great January and God-led focuses. Keeping God’s will in our New Year resolutions makes all the difference!

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