January is hardly over and your New Year’s resolutions are perhaps long forgotten. Maybe you feel that your new diet or exercise programme has dramatically failed so why bother to continue trying?

 

It could be that just yesterday you still said: “It is Monday, today I will start over!” Or perhaps you woke up this morning and decided – 1 February is a much better time to start over because January felt a bit like it was still holiday …

 

Yet, one thing is for sure: Every year between 1 January and 1 February, we try to start over. We begin planning the new year that lies ahead and we set goals or make new resolutions about the things we would like to start doing or do differently. Sometimes we write it down, sometimes it just remains in our thoughts without us proclaiming it to the rest of the world.

 

And although our resolutions for the new year may differ, I believe that there is one thing that binds us together – we all want to be better people, or we want to be better at doing something. Be it that we want to get up earlier, be more organised, eat healthier, one wants to do something better than one has done before. And with that small little thing, that one little adjustment or change, you are striving to be a better person in one way or another.

 

In the Bible, there are so many guidelines about how we should tackle life to be better people. And yes, sometimes it feels overwhelming. Yet, there has always been a passage in Galatians 5 that simply states nine wonderful characteristics towards which we should strive. Nine characteristics that can help us to set the course of our lives – to direct our new year’s resolutions and goals.

And if we concentrate on the so-called “fruit of the Spirit” and just focus on cultivating one good characteristic at a time, we won’t but be better people than we have been in the past.

 

So, why not start with it this week? It is, indeed, 1 February – the perfect time to start over.

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, This year, take my hand and help me truly to become a better version of myself. Help me to become the person that you know that I can be and whom you dearly want me to be. May my thoughts and the fresh start take place in such a manner that your name is glorified wherever I go. Amen.