I had a Facebook memory pop up today from December 31, 2019. I was so excited about 2020 in that memory. The new year is awesome, not so much staying up until midnight though. This guy usually rings in the new year asleep. When a new year begins, I love dreaming about what we are going to do and accomplish as a family and for myself. I’m a goal and dream nerd and I want you to accomplish your dreams and goals too. Everything is possible, hope is palpable.
While 2020 put a beat down on a lot of my plans, how did it affect yours?
One of my favorite quotes, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Mike Tyson said that and I’m pretty sure he is the one that gave us all a right cross to the chin. As I talk to people and examine my own heart, I don’t like what that punch to the face has done to my dreaming heart. I feel and see an insidious invader enter 2020.
Passiveness
I believe we are struggling with a disillusionment hangover and its turned us into a bunch of passive disheartened zombies. Why plan for 2021? Look what happened this last year. From virus to forced shutdowns, its been a year. We can get so drawn to what has been taken away or knocked upside the head, that we wait to plan goals and dream, and most of all HOPE.
Zechariah 9:12 says, “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.” Prisoners of hope! How can we be prisoners of hope instead of prisoners of despair?
God is bigger
A lack of hope is when I get my eyes off of the greatness of God and put my eyes on my problems and all the scary unknowns out there. I’m sure you had a lot of hard things this last year and I also know that God was not surprised by this year. I don’t know a lot of why things happened to us, but I do know the greatness and vastness of the Creator. He holds the world in the palm of His hands and sits with us in the moment. When I reach my final destination in Heaven, I’m excited to get a lot of my questions answered. In the meantime, I will choose to remind myself that He has this, He has me, and He has you in the palm of His hands no matter what it looks like.
What can I control?
I like to talk about and think about a lot of what I have no control over. It’s easier to make excuses that way. When I sit in passiveness excuses are comforting, however, I don’t want that for me and I don’t want that for you. I want us to be prisoners of hope, not prisoners of excuses. When we fixate on what we can control, we see even in 2020 most of our goals and dreams could have still been accomplished. I don’t say this to shame you or I, but to remind us that we can do more than we think. The coronavirus didn’t make me gain ten pounds, my stress eating of chips and salsa did that. What can you control? Plan and dream around those things.
Goals and Dreams Need an Eternal Perspective
We get drawn to passiveness when we look at the world or spend our days watching the news. We could be informed on world events in five minutes, yet some of us sit watching the news getting all worked up for an hour or more. Likewise, some get sucked into news on Facebook and Twitter. It gets our minds off of the eternal and onto this fallen world. God has things for you and I to do and we need to get in the business of doing them. This only happens when I remember that God has good works for me to do. It is then that I seek Him and His kingdom. Heaven is where our hope comes from, not current events.
Dreams and Goals Happen with Hope Filled Friends
I have days of struggle and I know that you do too. We need to surround ourselves with friends that remind us of Jesus and that He has things for us to do. We don’t need more friends that complain all day about a plethora of things. If you don’t have friends that remind you to have goals and dreams, maybe this could be one of your goals this year. Surround yourself with other prisoners of hope that raise your mood and expectations about what God will do.
Dare to dream today! If you want help reaching your goals and dreams, I did write a book about it which you can get here. Look to where our hope comes from, focus on what you can control, and move with hope and faith like a child. This year can be your best year yet. I believe God has great things in front of you. I believe the question is, do you? This year be chained and imprisoned to hope.
What helps you live in hope?