Let it Go! … Let it Go!
Let it Go! … Let it Go!
Happy New Year to you! I hope this new year will bring some welcome changes and new beginnings. Isn’t it amazing that we can experience a tangible sense of letting go of the old and embracing the new? As January unveils, we begin to move forward with a resolution of change. So, what techniques are you using to shed the past and welcome the opportunities and possibilities that the new year brings?
If you’re like me, you will write down your goals for the new year. My goals frequently include weight loss and exercise, spiritual growth, prayer for my family and friends, and desire for personal improvement. Sadly, as I take the time each New Year’s Eve to review my goals from the previous year, I find myself often disappointed at how few were attained. If this has been your experience, let’s look at ways to be encouraged as we look ahead.
2 Peter 1:5-8 says, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The operative words worthy of consideration are: “in increasing measure.” And that’s what’s so encouraging about this section of scripture. It doesn’t say that we need to be perfect in attaining these qualities, but rather, it simply exhorts us to keep at it and develop them. Those verses have helped me to put past regrets behind me by letting them go and to make more reasonable goals for the present and future, with the thought of getting increasingly closer to them rather than being discouraged for not hitting the mark on all of them. We are all works in progress on this side of Heaven, so let’s move forward this year with a realistic goal of becoming more like Jesus and trust that He will direct our paths accordingly.
Let us Walk in His Way.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for new beginnings. Please help us let go of things from the past that You’ve already forgiven, including unmet goals, and place us back on your LIFE path in the days ahead. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
by Corinne “Kinney” deHamel
author of “Walk in His Way” for
Carry the Light Ministries
