Every year I make my list of New Year’s resolutions. Most every year they are pretty much the same. They include: 1) Lose weight; 2) Exercise more (walking, biking, ICE FISHING, FISHING, gardening, woodworking; 3) practice reading Biblical Hebrew out loud to become one of the best Hebrew readers in the world; 4) stop procrastinating! (“Perfect is the enemy of good,” so just get started! Avoid the hectic pressure of last-minute projects!)
How ‘bout you? Do you have a list of New Year’s resolutions? Eat healthier? Get fit? More books? Help others? Be more optimistic and less of a grouchy Eeyore?
If so, then I hope this Wednesday Encouragement will encourage you to stay the course and stick to those resolutions you made just a week ago! And the best way to encourage you is by example. So here goes! I have decided to put this resolution at the very top of my list. Stop procrastinating!
So... “I quit!” You heard me, “I quit!” Why on earth would I say that? Because I just learned that most folks quit on their New Year’s resolutions by the second Friday in January. This year that’s Friday, January 10. This Friday has even been given a name: “Quitter’s Day!”
So if I quit on my resolutions today, January 8th, that means I’m 2 days ahead of the Quitter’s Day deadline! No procrastinating! No last-minute crazed rush to do nothing! It’s a win-win!
Two days to take naps so long they give me what I call “turtle head.” Two days to eat lots of left-over Christmas cookies and candies. Two days to gorge myself on mind-numbing social media and podcast drivel. Two days to overload my brain on bad news gleaned from the around the world via my Smartphone. 2 days to fret and worry and be anxious about all the bad things I can imagine happening in the New Year of 2025. (The Packers losing their first game in the play-offs.)
Or not. Instead, I plan to spend these next 48 hours asking my Father to steady my head and my heart; asking his Spirit to tighten my faith-hold on my Savior; asking Jesus to pull me back when I stray, to stand me back up when I fall, and to point me back to the cross and the empty tomb when I grow depressed.
Since my Father works his miracles through his precious Word, that means I plan to spend the next 2 days honing my focus on the Lord’s guidance and promises contained in the Scriptures. Here’s a little appetizer of what I’ll be reading.
That’s just a tiny sampling of the treasures our Lord shares with us in his Word! And to think--you and I have the rest of this year, our good Lord willing, to read his Word, mark his Word, learn his Word, and take His Word to heart. Now, that’s a New Year’s resolution I pray I never quit on!
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
How ‘bout you? Do you have a list of New Year’s resolutions? Eat healthier? Get fit? More books? Help others? Be more optimistic and less of a grouchy Eeyore?
If so, then I hope this Wednesday Encouragement will encourage you to stay the course and stick to those resolutions you made just a week ago! And the best way to encourage you is by example. So here goes! I have decided to put this resolution at the very top of my list. Stop procrastinating!
So... “I quit!” You heard me, “I quit!” Why on earth would I say that? Because I just learned that most folks quit on their New Year’s resolutions by the second Friday in January. This year that’s Friday, January 10. This Friday has even been given a name: “Quitter’s Day!”
So if I quit on my resolutions today, January 8th, that means I’m 2 days ahead of the Quitter’s Day deadline! No procrastinating! No last-minute crazed rush to do nothing! It’s a win-win!
Two days to take naps so long they give me what I call “turtle head.” Two days to eat lots of left-over Christmas cookies and candies. Two days to gorge myself on mind-numbing social media and podcast drivel. Two days to overload my brain on bad news gleaned from the around the world via my Smartphone. 2 days to fret and worry and be anxious about all the bad things I can imagine happening in the New Year of 2025. (The Packers losing their first game in the play-offs.)
Or not. Instead, I plan to spend these next 48 hours asking my Father to steady my head and my heart; asking his Spirit to tighten my faith-hold on my Savior; asking Jesus to pull me back when I stray, to stand me back up when I fall, and to point me back to the cross and the empty tomb when I grow depressed.
Since my Father works his miracles through his precious Word, that means I plan to spend the next 2 days honing my focus on the Lord’s guidance and promises contained in the Scriptures. Here’s a little appetizer of what I’ll be reading.
- Psalm 65:11: “You crown the year with your goodness. The tracks made by your carts overflow with riches.”
- 2 Chronicles 15:7: “But take courage and do not let your hands be slack, because there will be a reward for your work.”
- Proverbs 15:21-22: “Stupidity delights a person who lacks sense, but one who has understanding stays on course. Plans fail without advice, but where there are many advisors the plans succeed.”
- Psalm 68:19: “Blessed be the Lord. Day by day he bears our burdens. He is the God who saves us.”
- James 1:17: “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.”
- Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”
- Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the LORD at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth.”
- 1 Chronicles 16:8-14: “Give thanks to the LORD. Call on his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him. Make music to him. Tell about all his wonderful acts. Praise his holy name. The hearts of those who seek the LORD will rejoice. Seek the LORD and his strength. Seek his presence continually. Remember his wonderful acts, his signs, and the judgments from his mouth, you descendants of Israel, his servant, you sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the LORD our God. His judgments are in all the earth.”
That’s just a tiny sampling of the treasures our Lord shares with us in his Word! And to think--you and I have the rest of this year, our good Lord willing, to read his Word, mark his Word, learn his Word, and take His Word to heart. Now, that’s a New Year’s resolution I pray I never quit on!
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
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