Getting Ahead: ‘I’ll do it this time’

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New Year’s Eve is a time of new beginnings, or, in most of our lives, an attempt at new beginnings. We start out in what has been proven to be the right way to accomplish something which is first, realizing that there is a need for change in some area of our life, then admitting it to someone else, and finally DOING IT.

The problem is that every step gets a little harder. We usually know what we need to change well in advance of Dec. 31. In most cases we proclaim to make a New Year’s Eve resolution for weeks or even months ahead of time. Leading up to New Year’s Eve we overindulge in the very thing that we have made up our mind to control.

New Year’s Eve arrives and we proclaim to our family and friends that this is the last time for such a thing. For a period of time we do the thing we have proclaimed to do. Then we fail and fall right back into the things that cause us a problem. Later in the year we heal up from our failure and start planning for next year when once again we will proclaim to do better. After a given amount of failure we just give up and live with it until it ruins our quality of life or in some cases, life itself.

Could it be that we are missing the key? Is even our planning for a New Year’s Eve resolution just a way of putting off doing the right thing and a formula for failure? Is there something that can help us move our desire to “do it this time” from our mind and emotions into our heart where changes are truly made?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 West Court St. in Washington C.H.

http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2016/12/pfeifer-mug-B-W-1.pdf

By John G. Pfeifer

Religion Columnist

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