First off, if you missed yesterday’s post go back and read it right now. I have never had a post draw more traffic. You can read it here. Val’s personal search to hear God’s voice daily as she strove to meet her goal of becoming a personal trainer and competing in a fitness competition while her husband, Matt, was away on a year long deployment is so inspiring.
Interviewing Val and tracking her blog challenges me to be the best version of myself physically. What would it mean for you in the new year to be the best version of yourself not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually?
Old Habits Don’t Just Die Hard
An inherent part of walking in faith is putting off what is old and taking on what is new. And when I say ‘putting off’, I am not talking about procrastinating. Eventually, you will have to consciously remove old habits and thoughts and take on new habits and thoughts that honor God. ‘Consciously remove’ are the operative words in that sentence. Seldom do you simply stop an old habit through benign neglect, nor do they just die of old age. As the old saying goes, “Old habits, die hard.” Sometimes you have to help one along in dieing.
Wouldn’t it be great for this to be the year to finally make some of the changes you have been hoping for? There is no reason why it can’t be. This year you can be more Christ-like. This year you can be the best version of your self ever.
Setting Goals
Yesterday was a day of conscious removal at many levels for me. I started the day in my prayer closet reading the book of Proverbs. Every other verse seemed to shout, “Pursue wisdom with everything you have and step aside from evil!” I pondered what my first faith SPARKs for 2012 would look like. For those of you who missed it SPARK stands for Study, Prayer, Action, Rest, and Kindle–my five intentions for stoking my spiritual fire in the new year. I contemplated possible weekly and annual goals and in so doing God seem to be saying, “Start with ‘Out with the old and in with the new.”
Along side that Spirit nudge came the scripture verse, “Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn you foot away from evil.” Everything seemed to be pointing toward, ‘Focus on what is ahead. Stay focus. Don’t get distracted.’ The challenge then became how. What do I do to let go of the old and move toward the new?
I have set a few SPARK goals, for example, daily time in my prayer closet and getting to bed no latter than 11 at least 4 nights a week. (I’m a perennial night owl.) I also felt called to start having a Verse Of the Week–VOW.
Breaking Old Patterns
On my bathroom mirror I have been tracking goals for the past two years with dry-erase markers. Certain parts on my mirror stay and others change. Yesterday though I decided it was time for an entirely clean slate. I literally wiped away everything and started with fresh goals and now a theme verse for the week. I cleaned house and purged clutter as well.
I also created a new desktop on my laptop. That’s what you are looking at above. I laid it out in a way that forced me to completely reorder how I layout my icons. I am forcing myself out of old patterns and into new.
The desktop also confronts me with my memory verse and prods me with a focus for the week. If you would like to adopt it, you can right click here and save the linked file. I plan on having a new desk top each week with a new verse and focus. Visual triggers effectively push me to actually execute my plan. Few thing demoralize me more than great intentions unrealized.
I began today in my prayer closet again and will purge my office physically of anything that I am needlessly clinging to. Soon, I will read a magazine on prayer or bible study and try some form of new practice, but for the moment the focus is purging and break old patterns.
The Hard Part
The harder part is yet to come. What old thoughts, hurts, and habits do I need to eliminate? What are you ready to be free from? What tiny action steps could you take to start letting go today?
Yesterday, I also spent a couple of hours in the backyard raking and bagging leaves. It seemed fitting. Old leaves fall away so new leaves can emerge. This is the way new life emerges. This is the way of following Christ–The old must pass away…The new must abound. The work was toilsome and tedious, but oh my goodness, doesn’t my garden look so much better and it will be so much healthier.
Coming Next…
Tomorrow, I will be sharing the insights I took away from interviewing Val. The more I reflect, the more I realize just how much spiritual meat was in that brief interview. Again, if you haven’t read it I encourage you to do so by clicking here.
