Now that the new year is here...

Living My Life Like Its Golden-- the gospel according to Jill Scott

New year new you. New Years resolutions are wonderful things. We want to tackle the world. The sale of self help books goes into the stratosphere. Weight Watchers commercials every five minutes. Lose those 20lbs. Hit the gym more. Eat healthier. Spend less. Save more. Less imbibing. More reading the Bible. Do more for others. Get a better job. Following that dream. And the list goes on and on and on. It’s good having great expectations for ourselves. Then March rolls around, our determination recedes and our lofty goals fall to the wayside.

It’s most rewarding to have those goals met. Accomplishing them makes us feel empowered. Invincible. However, and you knew there was one, or a but, the thing we need to do most, in my humble, is actually none of the above. 

Whether or not we’re aware of it, each day we open our eyes, we’re given a gift, that is absolutely

priceless. Something money cannot buy. Life. We’re given 24 hours each day to do with what we will. But, what do we do with it? Eat-sleep-work-repeat. We may veer off, but basically it’s the same thing day in day out. We humans are highly regimented.  If you’re like me, you become somewhat slightly irritated if something takes you off your carefully adhered to schedule. Have you noticed how very routine your life is? Sure, we run errands, go to church, pick up the dry cleaning, but it’s all a very carefully crafted schedule. I’m extremely guilty of this. I may throw dinner and a movie in, go shopping or get the car washed, but for the most part, if you think about it, the routine becomes us and we give little thought to it. We succumb to sameness. We exist. We exist to pay bills. We exist to take care of our families. We exist. It’s what we do best, we exist. Sadly, at the end of middle age, we sometimes forget we are not here solely to pay bills, keep doctors appointments, and babysit our beloved grandchildren.

Have you noticed from Thanksgiving through early February that the obituaries in the newspapers and on line reach tsunami proportions.. Young, old and everything in between leave here like the end of Marvel's Avengers Infinity War. Seems like Thanos himself has snapped his fingers and taken out a large section of the populace. My mom used to say the earth was purging itself to make room for new life. But it cuts like a knife, especially towards and at the end of the year.   

What should be at the top of our New Year’s resolutions is to LIVE! Growing our relationship with the Lord is a given. So after that, live the life we’ve been granted. Do something. No matter what ANYONE thinks, live your life. Can’t find anyone to share an adventure with you, go it alone. Try having a nice dinner at a restaurant alone. Sing loudly because you feel it. Wear that bright red lipstick. Eat the cake Anna Mae. Burst into dance just because it’s Wednesday. Take the scenic route home. Get lost on purpose.

Live!

Let’s  dispense with the routine and live. Life is meant to be lived. God didn’t give us this gift of life to just go to work, come home, sit around, doze in front of the tv and then drag yourself to bed. He said He’d give us life and more abundantly. Life isn’t abundant being a couch potato. Life is doing something new, with or without someone to share it with.

At the top of all the new year resolutions, write LIVE then do it. Try living in the moment. Kids

are great at this. When they’re going about their little lives, they’re never concerned about later, tomorrow or even yesterday. LIVE! Make it spectacular. Create some memories. Do something. If you fail, you learned something, dust yourself off and try it again. 

Even with all the bad, life is a beautiful and wonderful journey.  Saddle up and ride for all you’re worth. 

LIVE. YOUR. LIFE. You only get one.

Ninakupenda
Kupendana
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!