Happy New Year!

Aaaaahhhhhhh.....a new year.
A new legal pad.
A newly-sharpened pencil or a brand-spanking-new gel pen.
Now then....
Resolutions and goals.
Ahem.
Anybody here overwhelmed?
(My hand is up.)
I LOVE making lists! I LOVE trying to be organized! Since we are made in His image, it makes me wonder if He does too?
Oh. But I have some epic fails in previous years.
Ouch.
Perhaps before compiling a new list of resolutions, we should celebrate each step forward that was completed last year? Happy dance a bit for progress made? Give God the glory for the accomplishments we have achieved in the past twelve months?
YES!!
Showing our gratitude, taking our failures into account, and giving Him glory for positive changes.... all of these will help to shine a flashlight (maybe a floodlight) into the areas of our lives that need more work.
Throughout this process God will guide us. Jesus will walk along with us. A paraphrase that I looked at reminds us:

 Now to the God who can do so many awe-inspiring things, immeasurable things, things greater than we ever could ask or imagine through the power at work in us, 21 to Him be all glory in the church and in Jesus the Anointed from this generation to the next, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21) 

Sometimes it's extremely helpful to remember who we were at the beginning of last year. Or who we were when we first trusted Christ.
The pages of our past are scribbled on, lined through, starred in the good parts, frownie-faces on the bad parts . . . If we really look, though, we will see the Father's love:

 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (I John 4:7-9)

We will see His helping hand:

So do not fear, for I am with you;    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you;    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

We will see His guiding light:

Do not gloat over me, my enemy!    Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit in darkness,    the Lord will be my light. (Micah 7:8)

Isn't it ironic that it's when we look back that we can recognize the path that He has been guiding us on? We can see it a lot better than if we strain our spiritual eyes and try to see the road through the fog that lies ahead of us.
We can take comfort in His care for us, and look realistically at the trials and triumphs of the past year - they can illuminate our goals going forward.
It's when we hand off our lives in complete surrender, when we place our lives in His hands, that we can set reasonable resolutions, and we can have peace about our goals.
After all, we can have all the five year plans we want to, for our finances, our careers, and more. But no wealth or power on this earth can compare to the peace He gives when we are in His will. When we prayerfully seek His will and lay our plans at His feet, we will not only find peace but also find a way to achieve all that He has planned for us.

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20-21)