Change

Another New Year. Why do we use the change of a calendar to motivate change in us?

Perhaps there is benefit as we move toward a specific point in time to reflect and prepare if any real difference is going to be made from a resolution to transform. The end of each year stirs the need to evaluate where I have been and seek guidance on where I should have gone instead. I have to say 2007 seems to have been almost a year of “Spiritual A.D.D” for me. Any long term development was frequently interrupted by the next bright shiny object that distracted me. Ironically, I may have been more consistent in starting each day with Bible and prayer but where was the growth?

Discipleship, spiritual formation, Christian maturity, what ever one names it, requires a pattern of focus that seems just beyond my reach recently. Was it beyond my reach or was it really just my failure to stretch? This is not a science, nothing to chart or measure growth like the marks on the door frame when I was getting taller as a child. Just a question, “Am I different then I was last year at this time?” My heart aches at the answer.