January is filled with new hopes and new dreams. Just look in any gym at any health food store or just look on facebook. The ringing in of a new year leaves a lot of people contemplative about how they can "better" their lives in the coming year. But I think this is foolish in the sense that the majority of our "resolutions" are selfish and will go unfinished leaving us feeling guilty all over again. I know I battled the guilt last year when I didn't stick with some commitments I made. It has been really impressed upon me lately that we should take each day and decide what we can do that will change the way we are tomorrow, next week, next year, the next 10 years. Life is all about choices and all we are promised is the day at hand. If we can't learn to live in the now then how can we expect to live in the future? If we only ever dream of what we want to change how can we take steps now to accomplish that? And if we only ever regret the past how can we hope for a better tomorrow?
I don't want to bring you down or anything, and I don't have all the answers, I just wanted to share some of these things that have been on my heart. I know, as a believer, I live by faith alone. But I am learning that "faith" is not just sitting on my hands waiting for a miracle to happen. Faith is believing God and trusting that I will hear His voice as I navigate through life. And I believe by my faith I will be challenged each day to examine myself and make decisions that will impact the rest of my life.