Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy New Year, Be Gracious To Yourself

Happy 2013!
Are you like me?  Do you face the new year with some trepidation?  Maybe it's just me, but I hesitate to make goals and resolutions because, well, I am afraid I will disappoint myself.  I know. I need therapy.  But seriously, I want this year to be GOOD and when I put artificial carrots out there, and I fail to achieve them, well, it can be disappointing.



That's when I recognize that I probably need to go to God about it. Let's dive right in.

2 Corinthians 12: 7-
"...Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger[a] of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power[b] is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

God wants me to be my best.  But, does he look down on you and I with a disapproving eye when we fail?  No. Of course not. God knows we will fail!  It's us that think we won't!  (LOL!)  He looks down on us, and quietly reminds us: "Child, I still love you. Don't quit."

I need that desperately.  As a Type A personality, I am hard on myself and I am hard on others as a result. If you are like me, you know who you are. Raise the bar, achieve, fail, feel bad...your confidence and self esteem is too closely entwined with productivity/achievement/success.   

But, gratefully, we have a God who isn't like that.  If he was, he would have given up on us a long time ago.

The same reminder applies to homeschooling. 

There was a three week stint where I had to work a long week, I got sick, then the kids got sick, then Christmas break came. Ask me how much 'actual' school we had during that week and I couldn't tell you. It wasn't much.  And I didn't like it.  I felt it. It gnawed at me.


But I kept reminding myself: Grace.  

Ephesians 2:8-9

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. 

Grace through faith. Not grace achieved. Not grace earned. It's a GIFT. 

What do you say when you get a gift?  "Thank you," not, "I don't deserve this" or "I can't take this." 

So, I am going to go ahead and set some new goals...I like to give myself direction. But, if in 2 months, I haven't done it all, be sure to remind me, as I remind you, be gracious to yourself.  God is.