There’s something about the start of each new year that I absolutely love. It has to do with the fact that it’s a natural point in time to reflect and reassess on what This Thing Called Life is all about. I’ve been doing quite a bit of reflecting and reassessing lately.
After moving to the Bay Area about 16 months ago life has been quite full (mainly with work). I’ve neglected God, friendships, and myself. In fact, my life has been so full that I hadn’t taken time to process through much of anything that has taken place since September of 2011. It’s funny what happened once I allowed myself the ability to slow down long enough to just be.
God is trying to get my attention.
I started thinking about the choices I was making in life; the things I was prioritizing in life. To be honest, I didn’t like most of them. So I decided to make a list of what I wanted to change. I’ve never been good at New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m what you call goal oriented. It didn’t take long for me to come up with 7 goals for that I want to accomplish this year. (Side note: They all happen to start with the letter “F”).
God is trying to get my attention.
I started making time for solitude, for God. For the first time in over a year, I’m opening my heart and mind to my Creator. Today, as I read Mere Christianity, the words of C.S. Lewis jumped off the page as my eyes progressed line by line:
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”
God is starting to get my attention.
A couple hours later, I walked out the door, got in my car and headed to church. Again, something I haven’t committed to in well over a year. As I sat in the auditorium of this new place I felt strangely comfortable, like I belonged.
God is starting to get my attention.
As the pastor spoke I started to get a little less comfortable. You see it felt like he was speaking directly to me. In a crowd full of people it felt like I was the only one in the room. The word’s hit me square between the eyes, “It’s direction, not desire, that determines your destination.”
God has my full attention.
You can’t get to San Diego if you jump on the freeway and head north on I-5. And I can’t become the man I want to become or leave the legacy I want to leave unless I’m headed in the right direction. I can have the best of intentions. I can desire to become a Godly man. However, it is the steps I take, the little decisions as C.S. Lewis writes, that will ultimately lead to my destination.
God has my full attention.
“The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps.” – Proverbs 14:15
I hope that over the coming weeks and months I’ll find the courage to share with you my story, my struggles, and my newfound direction. Until then, I want to challenge you in the same way that I was challenged today:
To what extent are your choices leading you towards or away from your desired destination?
This Thing Called Life 