New Year, New You
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” – Proverbs 16:3
In the next month or so, you’re probably going to start hearing people make declarations about things they’d like to do differently in 2010. When the excitement of a new calendar year hits, many will launch out focused & determined to make those 365 days count for something significant. Unfortunately, by April most of those same people will no longer be motivated to continue pressing forward. I’d like to offer a suggestion as to why.
From time to time, doing something out of the norm helps break up the monotony associated with the day-in / day-out same old grind. But true life change results from an established routine, not occasional spontaneity. Before your plans will be established, Solomon says that we’d be wise to commit those plans to the Lord. Ask yourself this question: “Will God be honored if the plans you have for yourself come to pass?” If not, expect those plans to fail.
As you work toward establishing the necessary routines, consistency is the key to making those patterns become second nature. In my own life, I’ve seen the first-hand effects of not having routines properly established. Here’s what it looked like: I’m reading my Bible, but not regularly. I’m praying, but not with the same fervor as I once was. I’m seeking God, but it seems like a chore and not something I sincerely long for.
Consider this . . . the word “pica” refers to having abnormal cravings for substances not fit for consumption. Generally, you see this with pregnant women when they desire to eat weird combinations of food. Doctors say that a woman experiences pica during pregnancy because in providing nutrients for the growing child, her body is stripped of necessary vitamins and minerals. To replace what’s lost, she might desire something that normally she wouldn’t even consider (i.e. cigarette ashes, peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, bananas dipped in mustard, dirt, etc.). This happens because her body says that eating this will replenish those lost nutrients.
The reason many of us need to establish some new routines is because we’ve gone through / are going through a spiritual “pica”. We’ve gotten into a regular routine of giving into spiritually unhealthy cravings by doing things we know go completely against His will.
So how do you make this work? Acknowledge where you need a new routine and commit to establishing it over the next 42 days. Studies show that it takes 21 days of a repeated behavior before a person feels comfortable with it. It then takes 21 more days for the behavior to become a routine. Once it becomes a routine, we’re more likely to stick with it. If we don’t have a routine, we’ll get trapped in inconsistency.
If you’ll begin your new routine no later than Friday, November 20th (42 days until the end of 2009) and remain consistently faithful over the days ahead, you’ll literally walk into 2010 as a new person. And it won’t be based on will power either. Don’t make resolutions this coming year. Make plans and commit them to the Lord.
“What you long for is what you’ll live for.” – Erwin McManus
Edifying, Encouraging & Enlightening,
Excelsius
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