Well, it's July... that means 2016 is halfway over.
Yes, you read that right.
2016 is halfway over. So sorry to bring the cold, hard rain of reality, but someone had to tell you. With that in mind, shall we revisit those New Year's resolutions? Or should we go on forgetting they ever existed so we don't have to hang our heads in shame at our own failure? Look, don't be too hard on yourself. If you're anything like me, you probably thought you still had plenty of time because you're still writing 2014 on every date. And that's OK. At least you tried, right? To some degree, you should be proud that you ever had intentions to make a change in your life.
But as good as your intentions were, how much good did they actually do you? I mean, good intentions pave the road to... what exactly? Hell? Destruction? Despair? Probably not what you actually wanted to accomplish.
My abandon New Year's Resolution for 2016 was to write every day. And like we all do, I started out so enthusiastic for and focused on this commitment. I intended to work hard and persevere and achieve this goal that I knew would be good for me. But what do my intentions amount to if I could not even achieve half of my goal? I wanted to succeed, but I let my intentions count as enough effort in the matter. When it became crunch time I couldn't make a spare moment to work on this goal because everything else seemed much more important. I told myself that thinking about it meant that I was at least on the right track, but in reality I was doing more thinking than I was accomplishing.But, how easy is it to turn your intentions into something efficacious? You can talk about intentions all you want, but intentions become flimsy fantasies and forgotten wishes without persistence. I desire to be intentional so much, I bleed intentions. But I am a girl of many words and ideas and far less action. And our intentions cannot stand alone and expect to be counted as enough.
The truth is that you can change your life any day, intentional or not. And if you want a change, you have to be willing to put forth the effort and persistence at all costs. It's not about the day on which you create your intentions, or about the purpose of your goal, it's about what you put into it. As talented songwriter Jon Foreman of Switchfoot sings, "every breath is a second chance." So stop waiting for the right time, or a sign, or for someone to make it easier. If you are displeased with something do something about it. Intentions cannot stand on their own, they need action. Each day is a chance to be deliberate about what you intend, a chance to take conscious action.
Imagine what we could achieve if we stopped consoling ourselves with our good intentions.
