THERE are many of us who over the years have ambitiously embarked on courageous New Year resolutions. I am sure by now, many of us have thought about achieving something in 2010. It shouldn’t come as surprise to us that the majority of us would have abandoned and failed on the resolutions as early as end January. “I never make New Year’s Resolutions any more,” a friend told me, “I can remember too many resolutions I’ve made, only to be broken.”
THERE are many of us who over the years have ambitiously embarked on courageous New Year resolutions.
I am sure by now, many of us have thought about achieving something in 2010.
It shouldn’t come as surprise to us that the majority of us would have abandoned and failed on the resolutions as early as end January.
"I never make New Year’s Resolutions any more,” a friend told me, "I can remember too many resolutions I’ve made, only to be broken.”
Let’s try to diagnose the reason for failure of such resolutions before we attempt to create ones for 2010.
One major cause is our level of confidence in achieving our objective. Simply put, if you expect to fail, that will be a self-fulfilling prophesy.
And if you have the confidence to succeed, you will achieve your goal fully or at least close to it. So let’s keep this in mind as we try to formulate our New Year resolution.
First of all, we all need changes. There are some we find very hard to admit to ourselves. I’ve heard people who say, "I have no regrets about my life. If I had it to do over, I’d do it the same way again.”
But that attitude is way too blind and self-serving. There is great power in confession to ourselves, to God and to others.
Owning up to your failures is the first and painful step on the road to improvement.
Its time to change and that should start by conducting good reassessment. How did last year go? Where did I go wrong? What do I want to do differently this year?
If you want change, do such questions run into your mind? This time of year always reminds me of a scripture, "Break up your un ploughed ground, and don’t sow among thorns” (Jer4:3). It makes sense.
What percentage of your life is producing something of value to God? How much un ploughed ground do you have that is ought to be broken up in this coming year and made useful?
The brink of a new year is a good time for reassessment.
New Year is an excellent time for corrections. Sure, we might fail in what we set out to do, but if we fail to plan, then we plan to fail.
Failure is not the end of in a journey but a friend. And for those who are ready to learn from it, it’s just a stepping stone to anybody’s success.
One of my heroes in the Bible is the apostle Paul. He faced great challenges. Sometimes it seemed that projects to which he had devoted years were turning to dust before his eyes. But he was ever unwilling to quit.
At this time of the year while we make resolutions and promises lets involve the Lord almighty in our plans. He will definitely help us go a long way in achieving our targets/mihigo.
Let’s take an example of David who asked for God’s guidance every time he went to war inspite of his experience and mighty army. We can’t achieve much without divine guidance.
If this year, you didn’t rely on the Lord as much as you should have, there is definitely no time to make a new year’s resolution. In fact, why don’t you say a short prayer right now, if you like? Something like this: "Dear God, I want the New Year to be different for me.”
Spell out some of the changes you would like to see and close this way: "Lord Jesus, I know that I’m going to need a lot of help for this. So now I place myself in your hands. Help me to receive your strength. Amen.”
Good. Now you’ve got a much better chance of a Happy New Year.
The author is a teacher at Kagarama secondary school