Easter is a time of renewal. Its a time of new beginnings ... of new growth, of re-creation. There is a tremendous amount of symbolic meaning in this time of the year. It's a time of growth and new life as the trees, grass, and flowers all begin to awaken from several months of slumber. In many instances these trees and flowers have been "pruned" in the previous months, allowing for wonderful new growth to take place. Similar circumstances occur in us. Perhaps you've experienced a "pruning" yourself over the past few months. Maybe you've experienced relationship or financial struggles recently. It might be that you've struggled keeping your life in balance, or knowing what you were put on this earth to accomplish. It could be that you've experienced many different types of struggles but you can't quite put your finger on the root cause or reason. I have some good news to share with you! Just like the new growth that begins to spring forth every year at this time, we can allow the Easter Season to breathe new life into our hearts & minds as well. We can allow ourselves to experience renewal by taking the time to evaluate our lives, our habits, and the status of the results we get from both. Many people talk about doing this every year in January. They call it their New Years Resolutions. Quite frankly, this process doesnt normally work very well. In fact, studies indicate that 35% of all New Years Resolutions are broken by February and up to 80% are broken by the time summer rolls around. Id like to recommend that you start a new tradition, right now! Spend some time this Easter Season contemplating the REAL meaning of life. You can use this time of renewal to reevaluate your own life. If youre not familiar with it, you might start by reading the Easter Story. In order to get the full perspective of the story, you can read the following passages. Matthew 27:55 - 28:10
Mark 15:40 - 16:14
Luke 23:47 - 24:35
John 19:38 - 20:21 If you dont have a Bible handy to read these passages, you can take a few moments to read an illustrated version of the story here: http://www.topmarks.co.uk/christianity/easter/easter.htm Now take some time to look back over the past twelve months of your life. Are you now where you thought youd be a year ago? Have you reached the place you thought you reach by this time in 2006? If not, whats stopping you from making the changes to get you there by December? Examine the following areas of your life now to make sure the rest of 2006 is a time of renewal, growth, and re-creation for you! 1. Get your mind right - Make sure you're focused on the right things as you make your resolution plans. 2. Plan your success - Establish 1-3 goals, followed by 3-5 key actions you will commit to carrying out regularly in order to achieve each goal. When you do, write them down and review them regularly! 3. Share them with a friend - Close friends make excellent accountability partners for goal achievement if we tell them and if we allow them to 'inspect' our progress regularly. 4. Make sure you can pay for it - If your goal requires financing, make sure on the front-end that you have the funds necessary to see it through to completion. 5. Give & serve more - When your mind starts to wander toward the difficulty of the goal or potential pleasure of the distractions, get up and do something for someone. When we are giving, we tend not to focus so heavily on our own selfish wants. Happy Easter! |
