This year I’ve had to reflect more than ever. I’ve had to ask God to remove the veil from my eyes and my mind, and I had to have Him put the mirror in front. I had to really see some things about myself.
This year I’ve had to really see who I was, and who I wasn’t. I had to see the good, the bad, and the in-between. I had to see some things I liked and even more things I didn’t like. I’ll tell you, it wasn’t easy.
However, that’s the beauty in things being hard. It’s that when most things are emotionally and mentally hard, they are both emotionally and mentally necessary. I had to see the people I hadn’t forgiven, including myself. I had to see the things that made me difficult. And I had to pull back to see what I actually wanted in my life as well.
Now, I know the last category may not seem so hard, but it is. Once I started to see what I actually wanted in my life, I had to stop doing the things that weren’t going to get me that. And even though we may want certain things, doesn’t mean that we are always ready to do what it takes to get them.
A person who wants a fit body has to want to put the doughnuts down, right? And so it is with life. When you want it you have to want to stop doing all the things that aren’t going to get it.
In other words, I had to see how seriously I hadn’t been about my goals all this time. Can you imagine how hard that was? It was a great growth move, but I did have to take some necessary sucker punches to my ego.
While we should be happy about what we have accomplished, we can’t miss the fact that we missed the mark on some things. Now, if God told you to wait on some of the goals you had set, then you definitely needed to do that. But how often was that the case?
Today, I thought about the things I want to be different in my life, and truth be told, all of them were things that God had given me the power to change. If I wanted to change how I look, He had provided me that ability. If I wanted to read and write more, He had given me that extra time. If I wanted to do anything differently from how it’s being done now, He had created a window of opportunity for me.
I guess with the upcoming year, I am thinking about the things that have to get better. I’m not waiting until January 1st. I’m forming the habit right now. And I think the most important reflection I’ve had this year, is that even though I’ve had to see the changes I need to make, God has things still lined up specifically for my benefit.
No matter what obstacles I think will be in the way before I start these changes, they really don’t matter. What God has for each of us is just that. And it’s OK to be excited about what God is doing in your life, because nothing and no one can get in the way of the fact that He has it for you. Now, reflect on that.