Here it is: the big flip of the page to 2026. It’s that golden opportunity to reflect on 2025 and to aspire for a better 2026. The trick is combining those noble aspirations with the crush of reality for a hopeful way forward.
But let’s be honest, somewhere about mid-January most of our aspirations for the new year usually get waylaid by the realities of daily life and the difficulty of personal change.
Here are some random thoughts to help us combine those noble aspirations with the crush of reality for a hopeful way forward.
Change is possible. I am not one of those who believes that people never change because I have witnessed life-altering change in my life and in other people.
Change is hard. It is more than a little unlikely that anyone will change something that has been a part of the pattern of their life for several years in a few days or weeks.
Change requires a strategy. It won’t just happen because we wish it to. We have to dig deep, asking ourselves, “What is it really going to take?” There will be a whole subcategory of steps and little changes to get to the desired goal. Work on those little steps.
Change is a process. It is not an event. We have to learn to embrace the process, realizing that we have not arrived, but are in process for all of life. That process will involve some successes and some failures. We are doing great if we can keep the arrow generally pointed in the right direction.
Change requires grace. The great example is God’s grace who accepts us as we are. The great challenge is to accept others as they are, but the greatest challenge may be to accept ourselves as we are. Yet, that is where we are. That is reality.
Change needs acceptance. “What if we never change?” “What if we keep failing?” What if self-loathing sets in and we keep replaying negative mental messages about ourselves? It all comes down to our understanding of God.
If our view of God is someone who is surprised by our failure or sin and somehow changes how he feels about us, we will likely become an obsessive self-improvement freak or someone who feels a bit more righteous than most. That is not the God I know who was fleshed out by Jesus. That’s a god of our own making him more like us than the real God.
Change is not just about us. One of the big parts of changing is becoming more loving. We all have this tendency to get lost in our own little world when the best thing we can do for ourselves and others is to become more loving and focused on others.
