Time to Reboot

Time to Reboot… New Year’s Resolution 2.0
So we are now two and one half months into the New Year. If you are in the minority, you have kept up with those decisions you made at the end of 2013. You matched your desire with decision which resulted in decisive action. Good for you.

For the rest of us, if the plan (we call them resolutions) ever took off, it has since crashed and burned. Amid the rubble of failed follow through, we cast a glance at the habitual behaviors which keep us from making the changes we desire. Deep within us there is the desire for an abundant life but there is a sticking point, our inability to make it happen, at least to our enduring satisfaction. Often the root of our trouble can be related to our focus. When the focus is on things outside the realm of our influence then we will always come up frustrated. The change we want to see in our circumstances comes not from attempting to change our circumstances, but from changing ourselves to meet the circumstances regardless of what they are. Things we cannot change must be accepted as they are at this moment. If there is anything in life at this moment which we cannot change then we are left to admit we are not in control of life.

This is the first principle of spiritual growth: surrender. I know, that sounds like it will not work. However, when we run across people who live under the illusion that they are in control of their life we find a person who is extremely self-centered. Do you know anyone who fits into this category? For me, there are days when I do not have to look far and wide to find such a person, the nearest mirror will do the trick. This can get really ugly if two completely self-centered people run into one another. Author/psychologist Scott Peck says that most of us come to realize at around 2 or 3 years of age we are not the center of the universe, but the illusion of omnipotence is so great we struggle with it for the rest of our lives. Obviously, we cannot all be at the center, so what or who is at the center? God, the creator is the one who is at the center, the one who holds all of life together. When we get out of the way and allow him to be in charge, all sorts of amazing things happen. He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and we will find more focus and energy to do the things which are actually ours to do. When it seems as though things are coming apart at the seams, we need to remind ourselves that we are not the ones charged with holding it together. God is in control, completely sovereign and our response is to surrender to him and enjoy the abundant life he is offering.

Blessings,
Marty Hale

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