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As we look back upon the years gone before and take stock of our lives and begin to look forward to the coming year, what is it we think about.  Do we see our time spent in worthwhile endeavors, adding to our lives and the lives of those around us, or do we just see a long list of failures and disappointments?   Have we run over others climbing the ladders of success, or brought others along with us?

I have found in my life and the lives of those around me that we often get caught up completely in the plans we have, and our own personal hopes and dreams that we often forget about the lives and dreams of those around us.  Those who are supposed to be important to us often are the ones who get trampled on the most.  And the rest of humanity goes forgotten in the pursuit of happiness, and what we see as success.

The debt piles up as we attempt to keep up with the Jones’ , whom I have yet to meet by the way, and we try to make our lives appear to be successful, and  try to make ourselves look like we have value and importance.  And yet we don’t get value and importance by what we do, or by what we own.  Winston Churchill said “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” If we simply focus on ourselves we can never truly build a life of meaning and significance.  Just look at the people we admire through history.  People like Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King.  People who spent their lives in the simple desire of bettering the lives of those around them.

If we wish to live a meaningful life, we need other people.  For it is only by our contribution to those around us can we truly have meaning.  This may be just our closest family members, or it could be the lives of others we interact with.  But only as we contribute to the lives of others  can we truly live a meaningful life.

The nice thing is if we have chosen to live our lives spending on ourselves, and we would have a large group to keep us company, we  can choose to begin again.  We  can choose now to begin afresh, and make our lives different and full of meaning.  As Paul said so well in scripture “but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead”. Paul knew that focusing on the past, whether it was good or bad, whether victory or defeat, would pull our focus down and cause our lives to be mired in that which was unimportant.

Ever sat with someone who simply rehearses the “glory days” of old?  You wonder if they ever lived beyond the days they constantly rehearse.  And we all know people who simply rehearse their long list of failures and defeats, and as such never allow themselves to live life, and never attempt anything.  Paul understood that our victories and our defeats have the potential to rob us of our future and our potential.  And he simply chose to focus on what his future and purpose was, and laid aside what was past so that his past was not a burden to his future.

It is never to late to re-evaluate and refocus our lives.  “Though no one can go back and make a brand new start my friend, anyone can start from now and make a brand new end.” ~Carl Bard

We are about to enter a new year and as we reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming one what things stand out?  Was it a year of personal growth and change, or was it the same old thing, and will the new year bring any change into our lives?  For most of us the year went by uneventfully and without much difference  from this year and the last.

I have begun to look at the years past and begun to change my way of thinking.  Maybe it is just that I am getting older, but I am beginning to want my life to count for something.  And as a result have begun to think about where I want my life to end up.  I have discovered that without a plan life will just sit and stale.  To quote a friend, without banks a river is just a swamp. 

And  so I have begun to think through my “banks” in life and change my way of  life.  And not to plan a destination, because life is about the journey, not the destination, but to begin to put a few road markers  in my path to guide my journey.  For without direction, we will simply wander aimlessly, as I have done for most of my life.  I have chosen to make life matter, and make my days mean something.  Instead of looking for eternal youth, like some will, I have chosen to follow Abraham Lincoln’s advice “In the end it is not the years in your life that matters, it is the life in your years”

So instead of New Years Resolutions, which many people make, but extremely few actually realize, I have begun to set some goals for things I would like to accomplish this year.  And after some prayer and considerable thought I have begun to walk a new path, giving life focus and direction.  It is something we  can all do, and something I would recommend.

The pursuit of happiness and the “American” dream has seemingly become our guiding rule for life.  We run from one thing to another, rushing around trying to achieve  and become better than “the Jones’s”  Our fast food, microwavable, instant gratification way of life has got us chasing illusions and we end up spending our lives on nothing,  and when we die we have nothing to show for our lives at all.  The universe simply continues as though we never were.  And our epitaph could be “We came, We consumed, We were forgotten.”

And yet this is not the way we were created to live.  Life was meant to have purpose.  Live was meant to ave vision and focus.  Without it we simply waste away   Proverbs says  “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained.” Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” We were meant to live life with purpose.  God planned each one of us.  Every life conceived has a purpose.  There is no such thing as being born “a mistake”.  Each of us was planned by God and given a purpose and destiny for our lives.  Psalm 139:15-17 You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion!  You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!  How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me! God planned us, and called us by name even before we were formed in our mothers.

“This is the true joy in life – being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” ~George Bernard Shaw

Our destiny is ours to find and live out.  But without consulting our designer it is something we can never find.  God designed us for a purpose, and the main purpose for our lives is for us to have an intimate relationship with Him.  And as we live out this relationship we then follow His lead and then live out His purpose for our lives.  And then to hear one day when we meet Him face to face to hear Him say “Well done”.

And yet we have made our purpose to be happy.  And we spend our lives in frustration chasing something we were never designed to have.  “The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.” ~Leo Rosten  God promises us an abundant life, but never happiness. Mother Teresa is one who ignored societies “purpose”  and chose to live out God’s purpose for her, and as a result  her life was full of purpose and fulfillment.  And that should be our goal in life.  “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children…to leave the world a better place…to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only we can choose how we spend our existence.  Let’s make it a good choice.