Happy New Year's!

   The ball has dropped, the countdown is over, and 2014 has officially started! This is the time of year probably filled with the most good intentions. Everyone is excited about the opportunity for a fresh start. Resolutions are being made, again by people with good intentions, and most people take a day or two to make changes in their lives. It still doesn't quite feel like the holidays are over, and you may even get an extra day off work. You sleep in, wake up, and talk to your family about what you want to accomplish. You talk about the person you are going to be when 2015 rolls around. Thinner, happier, wealthier, you'll be a new person by this time next year.
   But something usually happens around January 4th or 5th. You start to get back in the swing of things at work. Kids start returning to school. The new opportunities you thought existed on the 1st, somehow turn back into a reality of work, and kids, and bills, and the life you have always had. You may simply feel you do not have the time to keep up these resolutions that you have set in your mind.
   I know, what I just wrote may seem bleak, and like I'm trying to discourage you from making resolutions. I'm sure you may even think i'm trying to ruin your lovely New Year's Day, you may even be wondering why you wasted your precious time reading this when I've not really been that positive at all. Honestly, though, that is my purpose in writing this. I'm writing this not just to the general public, but to myself, too, because I need to keep this before me. A resolution is defined as, "A firm decision to do something". As Americans, we have a tendency to twist the definition into something we simply want or wish to do, but a resolution is a firm decision. A firm decision means that you will not go back on your word. When I think of firm decision, I think of the story of Daniel in the Bible, where it states that he "purposed in his heart". Daniel did not just want to do the right thing, he made a firm decision to do what he saw as the right thing in his life.
   So, how do we go from passive, from wanting things to change, to making things change? By a firm decision. If we are going to get where we want to be, it will not be easy. That's why the first part of this seemed so bleak. I believe it will be better in the long run if you sacrifice now. It's like a quote I heard that I love that says, "Today I will do what I want most, or what I want now." Ultimately, that decision is what determines where we are in life.
   I'll give a personal example, to further explain my point. Almost three years ago, my Pawpaw, one of the most important people in the world to me, passed away. I was at Berea College at the time. I hated going to school there, and I was absolutely heart broken by my Pawpaw's death. I had missed about 2 weeks of class because I stayed with him at the hospital, and was there throughout the funeral. When everything was over, the last words of the funeral were said, all I wanted to do was cry. I did not want to be thrown back into my studies. I was taking Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, Psychology, and an English class. My courses were by no means easy. What I wanted during that "now" time was to cry and run back home, and take some time. I really did not even want to be at Berea anyways. With the Lord's help, however, I resolved to give it all I had. I had multiple tests to make up and papers to write. I knew that if I kept going, I would be one step closer to where I was supposed to be. So, I made up all the work I was behind on, and my English professor even told me my paper was one of the best he had read. I finished the semester, with good grades, and it really helped lay the foundation for the education I am continuing now.
   I say all of that, not to in any way exalt myself, but to show a very important truth. It is not easy doing the things that will get you to where you want to be. It takes a lot more effort to get to where you want to be than to stay where you are. Think to yourself of that person that you want to be by the time 2015 is here. What kind of effort will you have to put in to get to where you want to be? Do you want to be thinner? That takes daily action on your part in monitoring what you eat and exercising. Are you willing to do the more difficult thing and skip out on a few meals at your favorite fast food place? It won't be easy at first, but if that's what you want, that's what it takes. What if you want to be wealthier? Work to save money, to be a wise steward of the money you do have. What if you want to be happier? Pursue a career you know you'll love, cherish your family and those around you, surround yourself with happy people. Whatever it is that you want your 2015 self to be, write it down, and figure out what it takes to get there. The decision won't be firm unless you know what you are going to do, and do it no matter what.
   Again, i'm writing this for my own benefit, and anyone who chooses to read. You can be a new person by this time next year. It just comes down to a daily decision. Are you going to sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the temporal? Or are you going to choose to work toward what you want MOST rather than what you want now? The decision is up to you, and it is one you will have to make every day.