Giving youth pastors the tools they need to make and shape disciples.

January 1st Is A Big, Fat Lie

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And you bought it hook, line and sinker. I understand why people wait until the beginning of the year before making new commitments but New Years Day is not a date, it’s a mindset. The minute you choose to make a commitment, the calendar flips to New Years Day. January 1, the calendar date, is quite alluring, but if it’s such a great day to make a commitment, why do the vast amount of commitments made on that day fail so miserably 30 or 1 day later?  January 1 is a lie.

Our brains tricks us into thinking things will be different, a new  year, a fresh slate, but why are we unwilling to start today? If this commitment is so important we should get right on that, right? Here’s the real problem, we carry our excuses from last year into the new year.

If we do not butcher our excuses and eat them to dinner, nothing will change. January 1st is, in and of itself, and excuse, a way to prolong any commitment need to make right now.

I recently started walking in the mornings. I had made no plans to start walking as a new commitment in my life, but I had had enough of the excuses of why I was not walking. On this day when I heard

“Its too cold”

“It’s so warm here”

“You don’t want to do this”

I declared war on my Excuses and punched those Excuses in the mouth.

I just wanted to walk, get healthy, and maybe lose a few pounds, that was the extent of my goal. No hoopla, no announcement or fan fair;  I just got up and did it. I’m eight days in and up to about 9o minutes of walking at about 5 miles per walk.

Today is New Years Day, if you want it to be, or not.

In the comments, let me know: What excuses did you use this year that you need to kill off?

Is your dream big enough?

A video posted by Paul Turner (@thedproject) on

 

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