Happy New Year
There’s something refreshing about rolling into a new year. It’s so clarifying! All those things that were supposed to happen previously don’t seem as important in the rearview mirror and the road ahead looks so promising. Then comes February and the return of muddled vision. Those chips look so delicious! What’s an extra pound or two going to hurt?
We tend to treat goals like a zero-sum game. “We have finally determined to read more, or go to the gym, or save,” we proclaim, and our first unnecessary purchase knocks us off course. We even have a colloquial phrase baked in just for it, falling off the bandwagon. The assumption is that falling off the bandwagon seals the deal indefinitely. If that’s our view of failure, then we make change extremely difficult.
We live in a performance culture and one that is generally terrified of failing. Stop and think about the stress that arises from the juxtaposition of performance and failure and our society camps out in that tension! We have been taught to minimize our failure at all costs and maximize the perception of performance. I don’t believe the issue is simply within the push to perform. I make no apologies about pursuing excellence. Mediocrity is gross in my book and Jesus had some strong words about it too (Revelation 3:15-17), but so is a strong averseness to failure. Failure can be a gift!
I don’t have great intellectual capabilities; I’ve just made a career out of learning from my failures. When we arrive at a place in our lives that avoids failure, the end is certainly in view. We learn and grow through our failures. We coach those behind not by minimizing their chance to fail, but by showing them the opportunity within our failures. Life will absolutely give us a redo!
We’ll all be stretched in 2024. Growth always involves change and change always involves the unknown. There is a part of us all that likes to camp in the comfort zone, but we cease to grow when we do. There will always be a degree of pain when we put ourselves out there but there will also be the pain of regret when we don’t.
God will place opportunity before us. We aren’t given the outcome upfront; we’re called to be fueled by faith. We aren’t powerful enough to thwart the plans of God either way it goes. But if control is what we’re after then we signed up for the wrong assignment. Following Jesus and control are simply incompatible no matter how we slice it. Part of my God-given responsibility is to lead myself and others into the scary unknown. There is a chance we could fail. There’s a better chance that we step into a fresh work of God. Imagine the possibilities?
Most gravitate toward comfort. There are seasons where comfort is needed. But we can’t drop anchor there and continue to honor God. I’m committed in 2024, more than I’ve ever been, to leading myself and others into the mission God has given. We will be stretched, some might even grieve the loss of what was, but I’m confident that God has blessings upon blessing instore!