Ecclesiastes 12:10

    Do you remember when you were in school, usually in the lower grade levels, when they gave out awards? Now often, almost everyone would get some kind of award. Maybe you were not the ‘Top Student’ but you could be the ‘Best Dressed’ or ‘Best Helper’ or ‘Nicest Smile’. I always felt the teacher had to make up an award for me, ‘Didn’t Burn Down The Class…Again’ or ‘Most Noticed When He Was Absent’.   Now if I asked you what was the best award to receive what would you say?  Would it be ‘Most Improved’? We might think that is not a great award but it might be the secret to success.   The biggest hindrance to success isn’t talent or smarts but it follow through. We get complacent, satisfied where we are, and stuck in our ways. But if we are seeking to improve, we will always be moving to the better. As we read in Philippians 3:13-14:  Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and re...

    Why did they decide to start the year in the middle of winter? It is not a solstice or equinox. It doesn’t really seem like a ‘new’ year.  If they had done it in springtime, that would make sense when everything is blooming back and nature is returning. But no that is months off.  The school year isn’t new, we are smack dab in the middle of it. There is no new sports season that starts, nothing is premiering,  no reason for the business world to take notice except we say it is a new year. There is no metaphorically, astronomically, and culturally significant reason for it.  Yet here we are in a New Year. However, there doesn’t have to be a reason to change, except it is time for one. We all need to move ahead, maybe by letting go of something (a sin, a struggle, a grudge) or making a fresh start (better habit, a spiritual commitment, a new walk).  Don’t let arbitrary date on a calendar make you start anew. The only day you need is today! As w...