I strongly dislike New Year’s resolutions, mostly because I have little confidence in myself that I will keep them; I don’t deem setting myself up for failure as the best way to start the New Year. However, I do realize the efficacy of setting goals. I am not a natural goal setter. I fall squarely into the category of those who believe one way to avoid failure is to aim low, if to aim at all. Consequently, I live under the shadow of guilt and condemnation that I am not working up to my potential or accomplishing what I desire to accomplish. After years of waiting in vain for the inspiration to tackle life from a different angle, I have decided to pursue a more risky course for the upcoming new year.
I am going to take a gamble and choose to believe that whoever said that success is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration was on to something. I have decided to set aside my fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of commitment and my abysmal track record on follow-through and launch a faith-based blog. At this point, I have no grand vision and only a minimalist view of where to start, let alone where I am headed. What I do have is a faith-fueled determination not to give up.
I fear if I wait until I feel ready to launch this venture, I will put off taking the first step indefinitely. I get so easily derailed by life, I am afraid that I will very quickly run into a situation—a circumstance or relationship issue—that immobilizes me to the point that I cannot think straight for the life of me, let alone write coherently or meaningfully for a public audience. Yet, isn’t that where the rubber of our faith meets the rough road of life? Life is messy; life is hard; life is full of struggles and challenges. Nevertheless, I believe that in the midst of the battle, there is a path of freedom onto which the Lord desires to direct our steps. How do we find this path and stay on it in the face of an enemy who is relentless in his effort to thwart us?
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. The key to freedom is truth and that truth is in Christ, the living word, God the Father who creates and sustains all things through His word, and the Holy Spirit who illumines the word in our hearts and minds. God has given us freedom and dignity of choice, for it is only within the context of freedom that love can exist. Love that is forced is not love: love is chosen. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, adopted as sons and daughters through Christ, to His glory, and by grace made us accepted in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:6) He loved us first; we have a choice to love Him in return.
It doesn’t get much better than that…if we but believe the truth; He who promised is faithful to meet us where we are and bring us to Himself that we might live all our days in freedom and joy in His presence. It is both a glorious prospect and an on-going struggle to realize freedom as the rhythm of daily existence, the cadence of our daily walk. Herein is the purpose of my sharing: daily encouragement, in the midst of daily struggles, to daily feed on the faithfulness and goodness of God, trusting Him to be to us who He is, day by day. Consider this an official invite to join me in Freedom Walk 2012—a personal chronicle of one sojourner’s fight to live as fully as possible in the freedom God intended His children to enjoy.
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