Why New Year's Resolutions Fail, and How to Course Correct

I  received a New Year's revelation on New Year's morning. (Note: that was revelation, not resolution.)

As mentioned, I don't do resolutions, but I do vision-casting (see last week's blog if you're curious).

However, once the vision has been cast, the direction determined, and the starting steps logged-in-for-the-go, an excitement starts to build inside of me.

I'm ready to get after it...to be "all-in" with Jesus on this pursuit of what will be written down in the next chapter of my story titled 2018.

My revelation hit me on my morning walk, January 1.

It's been simply lovely in Colorado, so far this winter. I'm sure the ski area isn't happy, but this Phoenix-weather-loving-girl is quite happy. We're unseasonably mild for January.

I found myself walking at a more-than-normal rapid pace...a definite indication of my "let's-get-this-new-year-show-on-the-road" attitude.

That's when it dawned on me.

I always do this.

I always start the year with a gung-ho spirit, filled with enthusiasm and eager to get going.

I attack my new goals a bit like a race horse, pawing at the ground, antsy for the starting gun to go off, ready for the gate to rise.

However, what I tend to forget, and why my gusto seems to get up and go away (sometimes within weeks, if not months), is that  I am NOT a race horse.

I am a plow horse. 

That's the very thought that popped into my head.

I can have a tendency to falter, get off track, take a side road and move away from the direction I've tracked on the map, and have to re-group to get to my destination by the next December 31, when I re-cast my vision for yet another season of life.

That's exactly why resolutions, and, even, vision-casting can diminish or be thrown aside, forgotten, in the garbage heap of past resolutions and next-steps.

I'm a plow horse, not a race horse.

I want to be a race horse. They are much prettier, sleeker, graceful...

It's not who the Lord made me to be, however.

The Lord God created me with a different purpose in mind.

(Oh, I know, we're to run the race that the Lord has set before us with perseverance...those were Paul's words to Timothy. Yet, even this race we run is a marathon, better endured with a steadiness to the pace, and not an all out gallup.)

Plowing. That is my purpose.

Most of us are in this same category.
You are probably not a race horse, either (I hate to be the one to break the news to you); and, because you forget you're not a race horse, you may experience a less-than-stellar-end to your resolutions, or new year's goals, as well.

One plows to level the ground for seed-planting.

We plant seeds to grow new crops for Heaven's sake.

So, I wondered...what does Scripture instruct us about plowing? To, probably, your dismay, I looked.
There are some good lessons as we set our pace for this new year.

First, some Scripture, then the lessons.

In Isaiah 28, the prophet says, "Listen closely. Listen carefully. A farmer doesn't plow his field continually...He does the work, and plants the seed. His God teaches Him and shows Him the right way (23-26)."

Hosea 10:11-13. "Sow righteousness and reap steadfast love. Break up fallow ground; it is time to seek the Lord and He will come to rain righteousness... but, you have plowed iniquity, have reaped injustice and eaten lies, because you trusted your own way."

Luke 9:62. "No one who puts his hand to the plow, looks back. If you look back, you are not useful for God's Kingdom."

1 Cor 9:10. "The plowman plows in hope..."

Plowing lessons for all plow horses, in this new year:

1) At all times, listen carefully for the Lord's voice. He will teach us when to plow, where to plow, what seed (Word) to plant.

2) It's not the horse's job to harvest - that job belongs to the farmer. We just do the work. To repeat a former blog: we just do the next right thing...

3) First, break up the hard ground. This is generally an allegory for repentance. Our hearts can become hard without even realizing it. Keep seeking the Lord to shine a spotlight of his loving-conviction deep into the soul, in order for the hard ground to become broken. Once broken, the Lord rains down on us, softening the soil for future use.

4) Don't look back...but remember. The Scriptures are filled with the admonition to recall what the Lord has done, His great works, His life lessons, His grace and love, His hand of provision, His constant care... But as we are remembering, we keep our eyes ahead, focused on the end-goal. If we don't the furrows will be crooked. Don't know about you, but I want an orderly garden.

5) Always plow with hope: a confident expectation in what is to come at the end of this next chapter...even at the end of the story of life (this, by the way, is my new year's word: hope...so, you'll be seeing some blogs in upcoming weeks on that topic).

 So, plow like you were meant in 2018!
As my kids might have said at one time, "Plow like the wind!"