For many people the first of each new year is a time to reflect on the year just ended and to make impossible goals for the new year just ahead. I realized a long time ago that I never made it to January 31 before I’d dropped, broken or changed my goals. I’d started with such lofty ideas, goals, dreams and felt certain that God would bless my efforts. Then I’d be surprised each year when I became a failure before I had hardly started.
Have you ever been frustrated by other drivers on the road? What a question! Who hasn’t been frustrated by other drivers? God recently convicted me of overexerting my highway prowess and it caused me to think about the areas in my life where I have influence.
As we closeout 2018, we give thanks for our blessing, take note of unachieved goals, and begin to set new expectations for the upcoming year. We begin to pull together documents in preparation for tax season, and we update our family budget. We may look at our savings, and maybe even our investments. Each day about 169 million Americans look to Wall Street, considered the center of the financial market, to take stock on the performance of their investments. These investments fluctuate daily based on how well these publicly traded companies perform.
“Did you tell her we’re here? We had an appointment for 11:00 a. m. and we’ve been waiting for twenty minutes.”
“She’s with someone else right now. Would you like to reschedule?”
“No. This is the time we set aside.”
“Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”
Ephesians 4:23-24, New American Bible, revised edition
It’s still early enough in the New Year that we might not yet have abandoned all of our New Year’s Resolutions -- and perhaps we are still trying to chart our way through 2019.
Our top priority ought to drive us. Jesus noticed a problem with the priorities of His followers. Their top priority was being eroded by mundane problems and worries. Jesus prescribed their top priority this way:
“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33).
We tore the sheets off the bed, shined flashlights under tables and chairs, even dug through the kitchen silverware drawers looking for one of our most valuable possessions. It seemed to have vanished. Not more than thirty minutes earlier, my husband Jim held his left hand up to show me his loose wedding ring and then turned his fingers toward the floor. I watched the band slide off his finger and into the palm of his other hand. “You might want to get that sized,” I said.
Worry and anxiety can stifle the effectiveness of the best leader. In my life, when anxiety gets the best of me, my leadership always suffers. So what goes on in the mind of a leader when he or she worries and what can we do about it? Consider these suggestions.
When we feel anxious, a process in our brain starts because God created our brains to help us survive. When we feel threatened and anxious from a roar we hear outside our tent while camping or from a roar from a nasty email, it initiates a flight-fight response in our bodies.
Oh, look at the eagle! It’s so quiet and peaceful, I could drift along for hours.”
“Hey! What are you doing back there! We’re all supposed to be paddling. No wonder it seemed like we were doing all the work!”
Sheepishly I grabbed my paddle and began to dip it into the pristine Alaskan lake, more vigorously each time my husband glanced back to check on me. I’m not usually one to shirk my responsibilities, but I had to admit I was taking advantage of being in the back seat of our three-man kayak.
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on monitoring and controlling movement from one place to another. It may be difficult for our children to believe but navigation systems haven’t always existed. Not that long ago, we could get a trip book from AAA, or we just used maps. Yet, we have become so dependent on technology that many people don’t know how to read a map or navigate. Our dependency on technology is so great that the military has recognized the need for navigation training.
