All around the world people are celebrating the outset of a New Year! The anticipation of a new start to life provides each of us with excitement and hope that this year will be better. The New Year is always another opportunity to get it right. It can be the beginning that we have been waiting on. Benjamin Franklin said, “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man [person].”
The New Year means a new Chapter filled with blank pages. It is a new beginning for all the things you have control over and that will not impede your progress moving forward. Author Edith Lovejoy Pierce said, “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
Make this year count with realistic goals in mind. Make it count for yourself and those who you care about. Dig within and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. Goals are an affirmation that you are interested in fully living life in the year to come. Establish realistic goals that give you direction. Realistic goals put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious, and subconscious level.
For me, setting goals—and reviewing these goals with someone who understands what I want to achieve in life—establishes a foundation for success. If you don’t have a mentor or counselor, I urge you to find one who you trust. Allow me to use this analogy to make a point: living with no foreseeable goals is like having a train without a track. How can it navigate to its destination? What good is the train without a track? Its usefulness is diminished. Not setting goals is like having a train without a track. What purpose does it serve, except for idle usage?
Goals establish direction and provide you with a compass to follow. Do not let this new chapter in your life set idle with no direction or guidance. Don’t be afraid to speak up when you need assistance. Always remember that the best mentor that you can have is God. His assurance is that he will never leave you. His word is dependable. The great thing about seeking his advice is this: he will point you in the right direction and then provide you with the resources that will sustain you on your journey; keeping you on track. Enjoy this New Year because the best things for you are on the way. Never Give Up! Never Give Up! Never Give Up!
By Chaplain Ghosten
chaplain@lhp.net
