I wanted to take minute this wonderful Saturday, as you wildly prepare for all things Christmas, as you wrap the last dozen or so gifts *or toss them in a bag, there is no judgement here* and ask you a question.
If you would, take a moment to ponder with me over the holidays and before the start of a new year.
How did you do?
How did this year go for you in terms of getting that list of resolutions or big S-T-R-E-T-C-H goals accomplished. Did you invest more time in your family like you wanted to? Did you chip away at your debt this year? Are you bigger or smaller around the waist than you were this time last year (spoiler alert – I am WAY bigger this year).
If you were to sum up the past year in one word, what would it be?
I actually feel really bad asking because I know, if you are anything like me, you will see the accomplishments and feel great … for a moment.
And then, you’ll recount every dream you let go of. Every wisp of hope that you let slowly fade through your fingers – or maybe there are things that you up and ran away from because they were hard.
If you’re like me, it will be easier to identify the things that you didn’t do and you may want to sit and wallow – which is NOT what I want from you over the holidays.
What I want for you is, for every dream you let dim this year, for every goal that you were once PASSIONATE about but didn’t chase, I want you to evaluate them and ask yourself, “what WOULD have happened if I just didn’t quit?”
How much closer to writing that first book would you be?
How much could you have paid down your debt – or SAVED if you had stuck with your guns?
How much STRONGER would you be if you just kept up with that workout routine or healthy eating plan you initially thought would be the game changer, if you just kept at it?
What if THIS year, your only goal was to keep at it? To reclaim those prior ambitions and determine to keep going, just don’t quit.
What would that mean in your marriage, your health, your motherhood journey? For your bank, your waist line, your ZEST for life?
If everyday you woke up and asked yourself, “what if I just don’t quit?”
Because you know what it feels like to fall off the wagon, to fail, to flounder and to feel like others are passing you by. You’ve done that, you spent the whole last year doing that in one way or another. This year, this could be YOUR year, if you are just willing to keep going.
And I’m not talking about waking up everyday with a sprinters passion for accomplishing all the things, all the time. What I am talking about is simple, run, walk, or crawl if you have to but do NOT quit.
Not on yourself, not on your children, not on your marriage. Your goals, your future, those BIG, audacious plans that you have << you know the ones, the ones you told someone about one time and they LAUGHED at how “out there” they were, those PLANS are written on your heart by a God who loves you more than you will ever know. Those wild and crazy dreams were woven into your existence by a God who is capable of speaking the world into existence.
So don’t quit.
Don’t give up on those dreams, not this time. And let’s resolve – if it’s the only resolution we make – that we will not quit.
Are you in?
