New Year, New Word!

Do you set New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t — I haven’t for years. I understand why people do, but they never work for me so I quit doing it. What I do like to do is to pick a word that becomes the umbrella from which any goals I might want to go for in the upcoming year can fall under. My words have included things like “joy” and “intentional” and “survive” depending on what’s been going on in my life at the time. This year, as I prayed about the areas I wanted to grow in, I found that in order to grow in each of those areas I would need to work on the same thing — self-discipline.

There are so many times that I choose to make excuses for myself instead of choosing to actually do something. I am quite good at coming up with excuses and it’s easy to blame my lack of self-discipline on the season of life I’m in, but that isn’t fair or accurate. I had someone tell me once that they didn’t think I could be lazy purely because I have three little boys to care for, but that isn’t true. I have had people tell me that I’m too hard on myself when I mention things that I want to work on or change, but I don’t think that’s always the case — sometimes the truth is hard to hear, but that doesn’t make it any less true. When I decided to give up refined sugar, I was self-disciplined enough to stick with that because I truly believed that it was what would be best for me and that belief outweighed the temptation to eat it. That is the self-discipline that I’m looking to apply to other areas of my life throughout this year.

Self-discipline is defined as “the ability to control one’s feelings and overcome one’s weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it.” The ability to pursue what I think is right even in the face of temptations to abandon it is exactly what I want to strive for. When God makes something clear to me or shows me an area that I need to work on, I want to believe it so deeply (true conviction) that I’m able to stand against the temptation to give in — like I did with the refined sugar. There are areas in marriage, motherhood, health, business, homemaking, and so on, that would benefit immensely if I would choose to be more self-disciplined.

Now, to the people who might be tempted to tell me that I’m being too hard on myself in this instance or that I’m in too busy of a season of motherhood to focus on this and need to give myself grace instead — I respectfully disagree. Are there days and situations that require extra grace — sure. Are there times when I might get too hard on myself for slipping up when it comes to an area I’m working on — I’m sure there will be. Neither of those things — in my opinion — are reason enough to throw it all in and say that I shouldn’t even try. I would also say that if God is the one telling someone an area that they need to work on, it isn’t anyone else’s place to tell them that they shouldn’t. Sometimes God asks us to work on things in the midst of a hard season — in fact — sometimes it’s during the hardest seasons that we learn the most about ourselves and Him.

I mentioned earlier that someone once told me that they didn’t think that it was possible for me to be lazy because of the season of motherhood I’m in — I disagree with that as well. In the dictionary, lazy is defined as “unwilling to work or use energy.” I definitely have times where I’m unwilling to use energy. I am fully capable of putting in as little effort or energy as possible when it comes to things — even in the midst of this season of motherhood. There have been many times where something didn’t get done that needed to simply because I chose to leave it undone. I’m not talking about running out of time in the day or needing to rest, I’m talking about the times when I have the time and energy to accomplish the task, but just chose not to do them. That’s me being lazy and that’s the type of thing that I want to be better about. In the Eastern Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible the word sluggard appears 14 times and never is it in a positive way. Sluggard is another word for lazy, so I know that laziness isn’t something to strive for.

So, this year I want to work on being more self-disciplined. I know that it will be good for me and for my family. I know that there will be the temptation to make excuses for things and I pray that in those moments I would be able to stand against the temptation and continue working toward being more self-disciplined. Like I mentioned, I think that self-discipline is an umbrella under which the rest of my goals fall for this upcoming year and I’m excited to see what growth happens as I continue learning more about being a self-disciplined person. The verse that comes to mind when I think about this is Colossians 3:17 which says,”And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” I pray that in being more self-disciplined, I will be more conscious of doing everything — from how I speak, rest, work, and everything else that I do — for God.

Do you do resolutions at the beginning of the year? Set goals? Choose a word? Something else?

Song(s) of the Week: This week I chose “Counting My Blessings” by Seph Schlueter. Enjoy!