It’s a new year. Lots of people are anxious to make changes. Many are reflecting on the past year and progress made. It’s a new start, a new beginning. It should feel exciting, fresh and motivating.
But maybe you’re feeling a bit like me. Stuck. Looking at the past year and not seeing the growth you would like. The failures seem to loom large, and the progress has been slow. The new habits gone to the wayside. The goals long forgotten. And maybe, like me, you feel a little discouraged, or a lot discouraged.
As I reviewed 2023, I was disappointed with myself…and to be honest, maybe even a little disappointed with God. I really wanted to make changes. I really desired to do all the things that I know will be good for me, and yet I fell short. I prayed for help, and it felt like none came. I asked for motivation and grit to do the hard things, yet I fell into the same bad habits, the same groove in the pavement, digging deeper and deeper into that ‘stuckness.’ Making new pathways is hard, and I have not been up to the task.
It doesn’t help that I tend to be very black and white in my thinking. The answer is yes or no. It’s not maybe. There’s a right way and a wrong way. This is problematic because it’s hard for me to see little victories as progress. I’m not running a half marathon, so why even start running. I overindulged at lunch so the whole day is shot. I pushed snooze and got up late, so why even try the next morning. You get the idea. Maybe you do some of the same things.
Or sometimes I set a goal that’s too ambitious and I can attain it for a little while, but it’s not sustainable. Then the negative voices come. “You’ll never do this…” “You’ll always be that…” So, I just give up and end up back in the old, soothing, but destructive, habits. And before you know it another year has gone by with what feels like little to nothing to show for it.
But as I contemplated my perceived failures of the past year, God brought this verse to mind, and it’s given me a new perspective.
Isaiah 43:18-19 (ESV)
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
It’s good to reflect and to be mindful, but it’s not good to get stuck there. Even if it was a really good year, and you want to ride the wave of momentum from that, this verse is telling us that if we constantly look back, we’re going to miss what God is doing in this moment. In many ways I feel like I’m stuck on a deserted island with no direction, but God is making a way, even when I can’t feel it. He’s in the process of changing the desert into a river if I could only have eyes to see it.
The challenge for me is to remember the good and the bad from 2023, but not get stuck in it. It’s to remember that God is doing a new thing each day, and I should be excited to get to partner with Him in that. It’s setting a goal that’s attainable, like trying to get up 15 minutes earlier to listen to some praise and worship and stretch or go for a quick walk and have that be ok. It might not be much, but it’s a start. And a start is so much better than stuck.
Photo by Joey Kyber
ABOUT OUR BLOGGER
Danielle (Dani) Rupp grew up in a small town in Ohio and is a true Buckeye fan, though she tries not to be obnoxious about it. In 2011 she came to PA to earn her Master of Social Work degree. After graduation Dani accepted a position as a mental health therapist for children and adolescents in Coatesville. She was a nanny for several years as well. During that time she lived in Kennett Square and attended Willowdale Chapel. She returned several years ago from South Asia where she learned to tolerate spicy food and cross the roads without being hit, as well as volunteered with International Justice Mission in their Aftercare Department. In her free time, Dani enjoys going on mission trips/traveling, running, reading, and connecting with loved ones—preferably over coffee and a sweet treat.