Into the NewSample

Want Your Best Year Yet? It's Time to Start Sowing!

Okay, so hands up: who resolved that this year they would get fit? So many of us envisage our elusive ‘summer body’ and so we begin January with a sense that this will be the year we finally get into shape, make the gym a weekly habit and stop the late-night doughnuts.

Or perhaps this is the year that you decided you were going to get your finances in order. Maybe pay off some debt, stop living month to month, that sort of thing. You know, ‘adulting.’ January seems to be the worst time to do that because it’s FOREVER since December’s pay cheque. Points for trying though.

Whatever you resolved to do this year, when you break it down, what you have is vision. It might not be realistic, might be unreachable or might be completely doable. It doesn’t matter what it is – you have a vision, a preferred future. You can see something, in your mind or heart, that could be different to what it is now. A flatter stomach, a healthier bank account, a richer devotional life, whatever it is, it’s vision.

The problem with vision is that it’s only one half of the picture. Vision is glamorous, it’s exciting. To use the respected theologian Jay Z’s words, “it’s provocative…gets the people going.” However, you actually have to do something if you want that vision to happen!

Let’s take things on an agricultural turn for a second. Imagine I have a vision for a full field of carrots. I want bags and bags of them. My vision is clear, in fact I don’t need any more vision. What I need to do is plant some carrot seeds. The process of reaping the harvest of carrots begins with the planting of seeds.

The same is true for any goal or vision we have. If you want to reap health, you’ll need to sow seeds of diet, fitness and discipline (you might have to eat some seeds too!). If you want to reap financial security, then the seeds of budgeting, generosity and self-control will need to be sown. It’s the law of the earth and the law of the Kingdom – ‘…a man reaps what he sows' Paul tells us in Galatians 6:7.

God wants to do tremendous things, both in and through you this year. For many of us, He will have stirred vision and ideas for the future. You should have dreams and plans that the Holy Spirit has given you. The next step for those is to ask yourself “What do I need to sow?” in order to see those plans come to pass!

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