Have you broken your new year’s resolution yet? Skipped your workout because it was too cold to walk from the house to the car? Did the chocolate dessert woo you to the fridge and then actually call YOUR NAME? Have you yelled at your kids and spouse even though you swore you’d stop?
To be honest the chocolate would not tempt me. Not a chocolate person. Lemon, yes! I love winter but I have skipped my walk because -30 degrees even makes me want to sometimes huddle under a blanket!
I didn’t make any resolutions other than to frame my year with the word BRAVE. That doesn’t mean that it’s been perfect around here. Ugh not even close. I have been snarky with those I love. I have daydreamed about what I’d like life to be like rather than be thankful for what is. I have chosen my idols over God. It’s what, January 14th?
I’m not going to write about brave every post but it’s what’s on my mind at the moment. The brave filter I’m looking at life through is still fresh. Like new glasses. Sometimes things are clearer than before and then it’s making me dizzy.
Today I was thinking about what brave has do with broken resolutions, sin and the general ick that is sometimes our lives. What if being brave means getting back up after we’ve fallen? Again. Recognizing that our lives are a mess. For some of us we are back in the pit we thought we’d left for good. For others, we’ve dug a new one. The hope? God loves us still within the mess. The brave part? Accepting that love. That we are lovable even covered in mess. Letting that love wash us clean, heal us and transform us. Getting back up to start again. Because God is all about second chances.
One of my favourite books from childhood is Anne of Green Gables. Anne is always getting in scrapes and she talks about tomorrow being a new day with no mistakes in it. It’s not an exact quote but you get the general gist. I have always liked that idea. It’s a good thought because it’s gives hope of a new day, a second chance.
But it also sets us up for failure. At least for me, the challenge isn’t about second chances, I make it about being perfect. Keeping that day with no mistakes in it: all twenty-four hours. It’s impossible.
What if being brave means accepting each new day as fresh and pure? No mistakes in it. But also, understanding that it isn’t going to stay that way because mistakes happen. Drinks are spilt. Tears flow. Words are said. But the brave part? Accepting the grace offered to get back up and start again. Fresh. A second chance offered repeatedly until we have served our purpose.
I’m not saying that we stay in our ruts, our sins. That’s not it at all. Part of life is transforming into who God created us to be. To be more like Him. Change is good but we can’t do it on our own. It is only through God that change happens. He may bring it about and through many sources. But He is the one in control.
What I’m saying is that to change we need to be brave. To get up when we fall and accept His grace, His love and His forgiveness. To know no mess or circumstance is too big for Him to help us through. To put aside hiding because we feel too dirty. To stop believing the lies we are told. To stand back up and keep doing it, as many times as it takes, to start fresh. To take that baby step. And the next and the next. Until we are running in freedom, in truth, in Jesus. For me, that’s brave.
