New Year's Resolutions

I've never really been one for New Year's Resolutions.  I don't see the point.  Surely it's just setting yourself up for a failure?  Why, just because it is the start of a new year, am I suddenly going to be able to start doing something or to stop doing something I haven't managed before?

 

No, New Year's Resolutions are not for me.

 

However, they are all around at the moment and I am even more aware of their use in advertising campaigns in shops this year.  Signs shout at you from different stores with suggested resolutions: Must be more organised hovers above the stationary and home office supplies.  Must lose weight shouts at you from the healthy food aisles.  Must wake up earlier is positioned persuasively near to the alarm clocks.

 

And each of these things are good in themselves, but I object to them interfering in my shopping and I object to the insinuation that a shop cares about anything apart from my wallet.

 

No, New Year's Resolutions are not for me.

 

However, that being said, I do think it's a good time of year to reflect on our values and consider the year ahead.

"Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."

 

[Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT]

 

This year, I have no intentions of setting any resolutions.  But I want to spend some time re-evaluating my life.  I want to lose metaphorical 'weight' this year - the things in my life and in my heart which slow me down and so easily trip me up.

 

I want to run a different race this year.

 

 

 

Single-Minded Pursuit

I watched the film 'Mr Bean's Holiday' this afternoon.  I've never seen it before, so I had it on in the background whilst I was doing other things.

 

He wins a holiday to Cannes in the south of France, but inevitably struggles to get there in a straightforward manner.

 

At one point in the film, he has mistakenly taken the wrong taxi across Paris and ended up in the furthest place from where he wanted to be: Gare de Lyon station.  He finds a tourist 'You are Here ' map and locates where he currently is in comparison to the station.

 

Once he realises he is as far away as he possibly could be, he sets his compass for the direction of Gare de Lyon and begins walking.

 

And he walks in a completely straight line.

 

In true Bean style, he stops walking when a stationary pedestrian is in his way and he waits for the pedestrian to move.  When he encounters a row of benches, he simply walks over them.

 

He walks along main roads, in the middle of traffic and nearly causes many accidents as cars swerve to avoid hitting him.

 

He is a man on a mission and several scenes later he arrives at Gare de Lyon.

 

He pursues his mission single-mindedly and he doesn't veer off course until he reaches his destination.

 

Yesterday I wrote about God guiding us along the path to everlasting life.  But it's not enough to just have the path mapped out for us.  We need to walk in it.

 

The Psalmist advises a similar, single-minded pursuit to that seen by Bean:

"You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.  You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.  That's right - you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set [...] I’m single-minded in pursuit of you."

 

[Psalm 119:1-3, 9 MSG] 

 

 

How do we stay on course?

"Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in."

 

[Hebrews 12:2 MSG] 

 

This is the kind of pursuit I want to have.  This is the single-mindedness I want. 

 

The path is before me.  I have only to walk in it.

 

 

 

 

 

Stripping Off

I'm travelling today and have had to pack very lightly as I'm going to be trekking across London with my luggage.

I've posted before about how I'm not very good/awful at packing light and only taking the bare minimum, but knowing that I'd have to carry it all this weekend has made me re-evaluate what I've packed.

I have got rid of everything that might hinder me and weigh me down.

The writer of Hebrews encouraged his readers to do the same in a spiritual sense, too.

"Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

[Hebrews 12:1 NLT]

Whilst I have no intention of running anywhere today (unless I am close to missing my trains), I want to run the race that God has set out before me.

And I want to be able to run without feeling hindered or held back or restricted in any way.

I need to adopt the same approach to my spiritual 'luggage' as I have taken with my literal luggage today. I need to get rid of the things which I don't need in my life, but which I seem to lug around with me.

I need to strip them away.