By Roy W. Harris
Simon Says, raise your right hand! Red Rover Red Rover send Billy over! Simon Says and Red Rover are a couple of childhood games that we fondly remember playing especially with cousins. What in the world do kid games have to do with adult lives and the year 2012? Then there is that the other game called hide and seek. It was always more fun to be the hider rather than the seeker. Ready or not here I come were those key words that alerted all of us hiders that the seeker was on the way. Well, ready or not a New Year is not just on the way, it has already arrived. They seem to slip up on us sooner each year.
The book is now closed on 2011. But the good news is that 2012 brings with it great opportunities. You can close the chapters of failure and shortcomings of last year. That weight you wanted to lose, that project you wanted to start, those words you wish you’d said are all now in the past. It’s almost like a chalk or marker board in school. When the teacher finishes one lesson he/she removes all evidence of it and moves on to the next.
2012 will add another volume to the books which make up our lives. The writing of it has already begun. It will contain multiple chapters with a variety of subjects; personal life, family relationships, work obligations, service to God and church and service to the community to name a few. There are some things that might be wise for us to keep in mind. One way to do this is to ask ourselves a couple of questions:
What are some specific things I’d like to accomplish this coming year?
Many times things come up over and over again that we know need to be done. But somehow at the end of the year they still remain unfinished. Taking a few minutes in this first month of the year to jot down a to do list of things to be accomplished in 2012 can be a great way to organize your thoughts in a tangible way and will be a good starting point.
What is the most important thing I want to get done this year? Choosing the most important thing on the list is a great place to begin. Make it the top priority.
What should be the most important things on our lists for 2012? That’s a great question! I believe we can never go wrong by remembering some principles designed to help guide us in determining the priorities of life. We have only to reflect upon the earliest form of spiritual guidelines, the Ten Commandments to find a successful model that has proven itself through the centuries. The summary of those commandments teach us to place God first, others second and ourselves last.
What about ourselves? A man named Paul who penned a majority of the words in the New Testament of the Bible has some very good advice. He said something like this: I haven’t accomplished all I’d like to yet, but I’ve put the past behind me and I’m looking ahead to the future. I’ve set a goal and now I’m working to accomplish it. I have confidence that I will succeed in the end (Philippians 4:13-14). This is great advice for us today. So what if you didn’t accomplish all you’d like to in 2011? Ready or not a new year is here. Put those 2011 things behind you and look with hope and confidence to this New Year.
One final thing; Tag you’re it. You have been given a gift of a brand New Year. Don’t be a hider be a seeker. Seek to make 2012 one of the best years you’ve ever had.
Roy is a national Conference, Seminar and Retreat speaker and can be contacted at Roy@royharris. info or view his website at www.royharris.info.