I Mean It This Time!

     Good day to you all.  Thank you for coming back to read my thoughts about life and happiness.  Or, if this is your first time, thank you for clicking on to my blog.  I hope you are challenged by what you read.  Part of the reason I write is to challenge myself.

     So because it is the start of a new year, I have been thinking about what people are saying about this year.  I hear things like, "This is the year things will change," or "What you have been hoping for will happen this year."  Have you heard people say, "This is the year of breakthrough?"

     Now let me tell you what I think about all this.  On the one hand,  I sincerely hope that all these things do happen this year for all of you and for myself.  On the other hand, I have heard this said in years past and yet nothing changed.  Having hope for a good year is very important but it is easy to loose hope if we don't see things change.  My thought is that we can and should help the process along by making some changes.

     Let's say you want this to be the year you get noticed at work and maybe get the promotion you have been wanting.  A good place to start might be to change your morning routine so you are 10 minutes early to work instead of often late.  But real change has to start deeper than that.  You have to think different.  Using the analogy about work, maybe you should start being thankful for your job and making it your goal to see your boss succeed instead of thinking they owe you.  If you are really serious about seeing things change for the better you have to make some changes.  

   

     Let me tell you about some changes I am trying to make.  Romans 12:2 says to let God change you into a new person by changing the way you think.  This sounds easy but it is not.  It is a process that we must constantly be working on.  For this reason, I have been spending about 10 minutes each day writing down what I don't want to think and what I do want to think.  Over the course of several months I do think I am changing.  Better yet, my wife has said that she thinks I am different.  That is pretty good proof that I might be on the right track.
     Many of us spend too much time on our phones.  I find myself checking the news many times a day as well as Facebook.  But instead of saying I will not do these things I am trying to make a slight adjustment.  When I want to check the news I first make myself go to my notes and read and think about the Bible verses I have there.  I do slip up sometimes and that's ok.  The point is that I am spending more time working on getting my thinking in order.
     This year really can be the year that things change and we see many good things happen.  Let's start by thinking about what we can do to facilitate change.  Just a thought.
     Next week: You never know what you are going to learn from the kids on your bus.  "There's an App For That?"