The New Year!

These words from Ray Hughes of Selah Ministries are a good perspective for 2009 and always.  Let's make Blessing the Lord a priority this year.

For His Glory,

Joe & Shirley

Okay! It's 2009. Everybody is talking Change, New Day, New Year. Quit this. Start that. Eat less. Exercise more. Blah! Blah! Blah! We are only two weeks into the New Year, and most of America has probably already turned their treadmills back into clothes hangers, which I am in total agreement with, by the way. I believe running is an un-natural act unless something is chasing you. If you really want to lose weight, the next time you get the flu just jump on a plane and go to India for a couple of weeks. In a few days you will come back a new person. A slimmer, trimmer, more beautiful you, if you will.  Why do we commit ourselves to endure things that we don't have to, in the name of and for the sake of "change"? Why don't we commit to enjoy the new day rather than endure the yearly disappointment of broken resolutions? Change is inevitable, New Years Resolution or not. Somehow we have decided that the New Day and New Season are about us. We think that everything around us is either by us, for us, or about us. What if our resolution was truly a resolve that commits us to a year that is all about Him?  No doubt, the many waves of economic surprises and tragedies in the past few weeks have imposed much fear and anxiety into our new day. Our hoping that we can endure and survive the treadmill until something changes is not the way to start a new season. I pray that '09 won't be about enduring or surviving. It has been said that in the days of the Great Depression, devastated New York City businessmen were jumping out of buildings to their death, while at the same time, in the Kentucky Mountains, folks simply went fishing. This tells us that in trying times, some didn't make it, some endured, and others survived. And then there were those that just enjoyed the simple life and simple provision. Let's walk into this new season with an unshaken assurance of who He is. It's more about Him than it is about us. He is more worthy of our praise than He is worried when we panic. 2009 is about Him, for Him. So, let's love Him, honor Him, celebrate Him, and enjoy Him. Let's resolve to bless Him and forget not His benefits according to Psalm 103:2.  So for my "New Years Resolution," I think I'll stay off the treadmill and simply take more walks.  Ray