Here we are, the first full week of the New Year. How’s it going for you so far?? Broken any resolutions yet? Day planner full already?? Home still cluttered?? Nothing healthy on tonight’s menu?? Too cold to walk???

These are all things that have made it to my “2010…This is the Year”. Yet I knew that if I committed it all to paper/cyberspace, I would be doubly disappointed in myself by the time even just a few days of the new year sped by. So I waited. And waited. And waited. And then I went to church.

It was there that I heard what I has been popping around in my head since I began thinking about the blank slate of the new year. I heard a sermon that just “said it all” to and for me.

I must admit that I have not been a regular “attendee” at church since we stopped going to Church at The Springs in the big city. However, God worked an incredible miracle in recent days and I experienced an overwhelming need to go directly to His house and thank him for a certain blessing in my life.

When I arrived I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that the lead Pastor was not going to speak. Instead, I believe it was the youth pastor that delivered the words I needed to hear. A “God’s Thumbprint” moment that screamed – it’s not about what you want but what you NEED.

In a proverbial nutshell…here is what God led him to speak about (you can find it here as soon as they put up the link – it is the sermon for January 3, 2010):

Idolatry. That is what our New Year Resolutions abound with. We want to lose weight to feel good about ourselves. We want to spend more time with family to validate ourselves as good husbands/wives/mothers. We want to…we want to…we want to…and the list goes on.

However, if we look at our list and aspirations for the New Year, and are honest, much of what we have written (or like me, merely thought about) all has to do with searching for validation, fulfillment, approval, love, etc. in one form or another.

Our idols have become food/money/work/…fill in your own blank.

Yet God states clearly that “You shall have no other gods before me”.

He stated this for a reason. Because you DON’T need those other “gods”. They are not real. They do not last (check out how long this year’s resolutions lasted). But God is real. And guess what….God doesn’t fail. Therefore, you won’t fail….for you were made in His image. You were blessed with all His love, mercy, and forgiveness.

By placing God first (at the top of that crazy resolution list) all of what you need will follow.

Daily committing yourself to Jesus will satisfy all those longings of  ”2010…This is Year that….”.

Miss Sam says many times that I can get really preachy. But as I look back while looking forward I have seen and experienced the grace of God in my life….and it is on my heart to “pay it forward”.