Homepage message: January 2010

Today I took care of a long overdue job of cleaning my office, not only the usual dusting and vacuuming, but going through piles of paper that haven’t been moved or looked at for months. After walking in the door I thought; okay, this is the last day of the year, it sure would be nice to begin the new year with a clean and somewhat new look. So I took the plunge and two-and-a-half hours later what a difference.

No, I didn’t get everything taken care of or do an extreme makeover. There still remains clutter in cupboards but that will be tackled next. This is a process I’ve begun and plan on continuing. It is sort of a new year’s resolution, but not really. The end of the year is simply an opportunity to invite healthy change and a time to evaluate the past.

Sometimes our reflection on the past will include mistakes and failures. These tend to loom larger than life and possess incredible power, a vortex that can suck you in with no escape. Our perception is usually exaggerated and beyond reality. Coming back to earth I’m reminded of what John Maxwell wrote in his book, Failing Forward, “a loser ... to fail and not look beyond the failure. How people see failure and deal with it ... impacts every aspect of their lives.”

No one likes failure and as much as we would like to avoid it, we can’t. Maxwell goes on to say; “... in life, the question is not if you will have problems, but how you are going to deal with your problems. Are you going to fail forward or backward?” That is the question for 2010. Will we let past failures, problems and mistakes keep us from looking beyond them and remain a prisoner of our own negative self talk or will we realize there is life and progress beyond past failures, mistakes and problems?

Paul, who persecuted the early church and even had many killed had every excuse to be a failure after his conversion to Christ. How could anyone overcome such a dark past? How could he forgive himself of murder, destroying churches and tearing apart families, all in the name of religion? Paul says,

“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.” —I Corinthians 15:9-10a

“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.” —Philippians 3:12b-15a

We, too, must realize that as believers and followers of Jesus Christ our past mistakes and failures are forgiven and forgotten. God does not look at us and reason, due to our past record, we surely won’t amount to anything worthwhile. So we may as well sit in the garbage dump and feel sorry for ourselves. Not so! By God’s grace no matter how many times we have failed, God is ready and willing to start anew.

Will you begin 2010 with a new view of God’s grace and love and not allow your past to cripple you future? Rather build upon it, learn for it, and give it all to God who can put anything broken together again.

Your new year can also be the time to begin a new life.