rest not resolutions

It’s the same every year….this third or fourth week into January…the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I realize once more that my brand new ‘swore-I’d-really-do-it-this-time’ shiny resolutions are beginning to softly slip down the drain.

It was all in place a few short weeks ago; the plan to go to bed on time to get more sleep, the new fitness goals to get to the gym every day, the plan to wake up earlier and get my rear out of bed before the kids, the promise to declutter my house and the certain resolve to stay perfectly calm whenever my kids act up…(c’mon…shouldn’t I have known better right there…)

I told myself I was gonna eat better, act better, spend less, be more organized and try harder…I surely wouldn’t forget my “word for the year” this time around and I even promised I was gonna carry everywhere my new cute polka dot planner with all of my goals color coded with sparkle pens…cuz you never know when I might need to add to my “gonna make a new me” list.

When I really get honest I have to admit that the same resolutions that are supposed to make me feel better about myself actually just make me feel more stressed, more exhausted, more burdened and more like a failure.

As if there weren’t enough rules to follow…

This year my heart is asking for something different.

This year, instead of resolultions, I long for rest.

And no, I’m not talking about more sleep. I’m talking about the kind of rest that gives my soul a little space to breathe and my heart a little room to dance.

Resolutions say:

If you work hard enough you can do it.

Rest says:

He has already done it, it is finished.

Resolutions say:

I can make myself and my life better by next year.

Rest says:

Apart from Him I can do nothing.

Resolutions say:

Tuck your head down, set your eyes on the course and do.

Rest says:

Quiet your heart, set your eyes on Me and be.

Resolutions say:

I will live for my acceptance.

Rest says:

I will live from my accpetance.

How tempting it can be to search for meaning, purpose, answers, solutions and quick fixes for life apart from the Creator of all life. Ideals and goals…and even the Bible itself, as I attempt once more to read the whole thing in a year…are used as tools to bring a sense of accomplishment or self-worth. How quickly my heart can move away from the grace that has been freely given to works that have no righteousness whatsoever.

There is absolutley no amount of effort to make myself better that is going to save me.

Instead of laying awake at night with regrets of all I haven’t gotten done today and all the things I know I’ll miss tomorrow, I want to instead remember where my true idenity lies…not in manmade efforts to better myself, but leaning into all Jesus has accomplished on my behalf…for His grace is more than sufficient for today.

True rest is only found in Him. Jesus has given Himself. Whether I fail or succeed He alone is my hope, my joy and my identity.

–

 

"See to it that no one takes you captive by philoshophy and empty deceit, 
according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the 
world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity 
dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule 
and authority...having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were 
also raised with him through faith." Colossians 2:8-12


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