SWAPPING OUT THE Ps

Have you made any New Year's resolutions Chuck?

Peppermint Patty

Yes. You know how I always dread the whole year?

Well, this time I am only going to dread one day at a time.

Charlie Brown

Ever felt that way?
And it was an improvement?
I have to say this made me smile when I heard it during Happy New Year, Charlie Brown. Not because I thought it was funny or cute, but because I knew exactly what he meant.

Last week I took a break from the dark abyss known as social media, which for me means Facebook, in hopes of refocusing myself and my life BEFORE the new year started. As so many of us do, I thought about things I wanted to be more resolved about in 2012.
Weight. Money. Exercise. Bible study. Relationships. Balancing work and home.
I went through the usual list.
And I found myself discouraged before I even started. I found myself foreseeing when and how and why I would fail. Which made me not even want to start because if I couldn't do it perfect I didn't see any point in trying.
Perfection.
In Works.
It gets me often.
While playing out all the scenarios in my head over the last week, I did have a moment of revelation when I saw what I was doing to myself. How I was setting myself up for failure. Not just because I was striving for perfection but because I thought I could even attain it on my own.
I asked the Lord then to help me let go of the need for perfection in my works. That I would be able to fall on the grace I struggle so to accept when I get tripped up. That my only area of striving would be in knowing Him more and fulfilling His will for my life.
For that to happen, especially the first part, I am going to have to take it one day at a time.
One choice at a time.
One success and one stumble at a time.
My perfection is going to need to be replaced with patience.
Patience with myself.
Patience with the plan God has laid out for this year and the years to come.
I am going to have to heed the words found in the book of James and,
"let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:4).

So, on this first day of 2012, I have already stumbled. Perfection in the flesh has already escaped me these 24 hours.
But patience is proving a little more resolved.
And today....that's all I need it to be.