Why To Begin 2015 With Grace – Not Plans or Goals
I’ve lost count of the posts I’ve seen in the last week about ‘making the most of 2015’, or ‘reviews of the year’ or ‘setting goals for the next year’ or a topic related to it.
There’s nothing wrong at all with these. They can be useful – and many of them have challenged and inspired me. And it’s good and healthy to make plans and set goals with a new year coming.
But to me there’s something else we need to do first.
My biggest challenge to you all for this coming year, is before you execute any plans, goals or anything else,
to begin with grace.
To realise your true identity, your true self, as you are right now, with all it’s complications, mess, and difficulties
is enough. Already.
It’s healthy and important to make plans and set goals for our year – I’ve been doing some of my own – but remember whatever the outcome of your plans, whether you achieve your goals or not
you’re already enough.
Begin the year with grace.
Our journey to discover our identity and calling has to begin with grace. (you can tweet that here). It starts by accepting the truth of who we are – for good and for bad – and then being willing to confront what needs changing,
but also to accept whether we change or not, we already have infinite value and worth as we are right now. That we are enough, as we are today.
I’ve found doing this much more difficult than keeping to any goals or plans. And ironically, when we confront the truth of who we are, then plans and goals become much more natural, much more simple. Instead of being uncomfortable decisions we make – often because we feel like we have to (after all, new year is a natural time to make changes and big decisions) – we make decisions out of a genuine movement forward in our lives.
In the last month, I’ve been confronted with some harsh truths in my own life, about habits, self-discipline and managing my life. And these have been difficult, painful and challenging – I’ll talk about those next week. But in the process, I’ve been able to receive grace.
I’ve had to begin to accept that whether I achieve my goals or just miss them, whether I fulfil my plan for 2015 or not, I’m still valuable as I am. If it doesn’t work out, I’m not a failure, I’m not worthless, and I don’t need to give up.
So, approaching 2015 I am setting smart goals, making a life plan, and setting targets for the year – in life, and in my writing.
But these have been birthed in grace.
So instead of setting goals out of obligation, they’ve been an organic, forward step. They don’t feel forced, they feel natural.
Transformation, goal-setting and making plans, become almost organic when you begin with grace.
So in 2015, make plans, and set goals. Smart ones. But before you do any of that, begin with grace.
Begin with the truth that you’re enough today, right now, before you’ve put any plans into action.
And then you’re free to confront the truth of who you are, where you need to grow, and make those changes organically, as an act of will. Because real change doesn’t begin in the mind. It begins in the heart.
So begin the year right.
Begin it with grace.
Question For Reflection:
What would it look like for you to begin your year with grace?
Let me know in the comments below!
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(Picture: Wordswag/James Prescott)
Amen!!! This is so true. I know my plans but i have not written them down get, and i will keep them as few as possible and forgive myself if I fail. Begin with grace, this is so true!! Because His grace is suffient for me. Happy new year, James.
Thanks Mariane, so glad this post spoke to you – yes, grace is always sufficient. Happy new year Mariane.
But how can this be true? How can I –or anyone–be enough already? And if I am enough already, then why bother doing anything else? What IS the truth of who I am? Or the truth of who you are? Help us understand what you mean, please…
Elena – you are enough right now. The bottom line truth is this: You already have infinite value and worth. Right now. This moment. But at the same time there are parts of your life where you can grow. Things you need to leave behind, decisions you need to make, issues to confront, and a calling to walk into. These are all important – but we can’t put our security and identity in those things.
We need to have our security/identity in the infinite value we already have, and this comes from beginning with grace. And as we allow grace in, we see more clearly the areas we need to grow, so we can make more clear plans and set better goals.
The ‘truth of who we are’, is what we discover bit by bit along the journey. But it all begins with the fundamental truth that we are enough now. And this is scandalous, but it’s grace.
Hope you can experience grace fully, and then make healthy plans and set smart goals. Hope this explains things better.
Sigh. I was hoping you could give some validation for your statements. Simply stating that I am enough now–is not enough. Who gives you the authority to say that I or anyone else is enough right now? 🙂
Elena, thanks for being so honest. Sorry my comment wasn’t adequate.
I believe in a God who created us, chose us, as we are now, a God who isn’t waiting for us to prove ourselves but says we’re already enough for Him. So I guess that’s where the authority comes from.
And I believe we don’t earn our value, worth and security, but are born with infinite value, worth and secure in God. Consumerism says we have to earn our value, and security comes in success, status, wealth, relationships or job security. But I don’t believe we have to earn our value.
I’m writing a book on grace which explains all these concepts more fully – thanks for challenging me on this, I hope this manages to help in some way.
That’s exactly what I was looking for, James! Thanks for the depth you’ve just added to your post. 🙂 But do you know of any verses that say I am enough? Any Bible verses? I don’t mean to be a pest. I really do struggle with the concept you describe.
But then, I could just wait and buy your book.
I would recommend my book definitely. It will be out some time in 2015 and goes into a lot more detail with Bible verses and stories, and examines grace in a lot more detail. There’s a bit more info here: http://jamesprescott.co.uk/blog/mosaic-of-grace/
There will be more on the blog in due course, my hope is it will be helpful to people like you, and believe it or not, this conversation will help me make it better, so thanks.
Thank you to you, James. I’ll check out that link. I wrestle with the idea that, I know God loved and fully accepted me “yesterday”, but “today” he expects me to do more in order to measure up. John 14:21-24 has a lot to do with why I think this.
I look forward to reading your book.
Thanks Elena – good chatting.
Think that’s Jesus talking about us there, not our value. He’s saying we demonstrate our love for Him through our actions. But that has nothing to do with our value. God’s shown us His love for us through His actions – when we had done nothing. “When we were still powerless”.
Grace is about knowing we are accepted and loved as we are today, but that God is calling us to grow and change, but ready to pick us up every time we fall. Our worth to God never depends on obedience or actions.
I’d say the story of the woman caught in adultery where Jesus talks about throwing stones is one, and the example of Jesus, who whenever he meets someone doesn’t judge or value them on what they’ve done or what they do, but always loves them as they are in that moment. And how God always seems to take the underdogs, failures and screw ups and use them – even use their mistakes. There’s patterns all through scripture.