I Press On
As you probably know by now, I'm not one for setting New Year's resolutions. I don't have anything against them, per se, it's just that I know myself. No matter how lofty my goals or how firm my motivation, I have a tendency to fall short of the mark. I don't mean to. I have every intention of seeing things through and reaching my full potential, but life often has other plans for me. Trials, obstacles, distractions--these things and more make it nearly impossible to fulfill the resolutions I set forth for myself. So, rather than set them up and find myself disappointed when I don't make it, I just don't bother to make the resolutions to begin with.
That being said, I have decided that this year I will live by a new motto: I press on. I have no idea what 2017 may bring. It may be a "Joseph Year" where everything I touch prospers and succeeds (see Genesis 39), or it could be a "Charlie Brown Year" where, according to his own words, everything I touch turns to a disaster. Obviously, I'm hoping for the first, but only God knows what awaits me in the coming year. But no matter what happens, I pray that I can fervently say, "I press on."
When trouble comes, I press on.
When I stand alone, I press on.
When I feel like giving up, I press on.
When it seems like God has turned against me, I press on.
When the answers to my prayers seem so far away, I press on.
When prosperity finds me, I press on.
When my health wavers, I press on.
When my faith is tested, I press on.
Day after day, week after week, I pray that God will remind me of my motto for the year and that He will give me the strength to follow through with it. I cannot control what will happen over the next year, but I can choose how I will respond.
I PRESS ON!
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14