That thrilled me because, like her, I wasted too much time assuming it's useless to expect change. I've since discovered change IS possible - it just takes some slight adjustments to our status quo. Here's what I wrote back to her:
You are right, the turning of a calendar page, or the declaring of “I’m going to do _______” does extremely little to change anything in our lives or habits. So from that standpoint, why set ourselves up to expect change? BUT, if we’ll put a few things behind that declaration, as a foundation for it, we CAN see change. Things like:
- Leaning into God, and regularly asking for his wisdom, power and grace – because we know we can’t do it alone and we refuse to expect ourselves to.
- Allowing God to redefine our “I can’t” or our “I’ve never been able to,” with “In God all things are possible” and “I will seek Him first and let Him empower the rest in me.”
- Narrowing our focus (down from a list of 47 things we want to be different) to just one or two things to concentrate on this year.
- Determining small, specific changes that will build over time into noticeable results – and then make those changes.
I hope you, like this new friend and I, are moving forward into 2011 in wisdom and confidence, knowing that change is possible but it rarely happens magically overnight. And I hope that you are making choices that will build into positive change. After all, to do something we've never done before, we have to be someone we've never been before.
So here's to THAT girl!
Thank you for your post. We are always told that we are not alone; that what we feel and think is felt and thought by others. It is one thing to know it in your head, but quite another to feel it in your heart.
ReplyDeleteI have made waking up early enough to spend breakfast with God my one thing to change this year (I am sooo not a morning person). There are a million other things I'd like to change, but that is where I'm starting. :o)
Andrea