Don't Carry this...

 

The year has just started and I know we are still setting goals and projections for 2023. As you go about your goal setting, I have compiled a list of the things I hope you and I won’t carry into the new year:

1.       I hope in this year you won’t carry staying silent in order to keep the peace. Avoiding a problem does not solve it. Keeping quiet about a matter for the sake of peace does not mean a solution has been found, on the contrary, if you keep quiet today, you give up your power to speak tomorrow or even for eternity. Speak and let the matter come to a rest. I am not saying argue and fight, but be bold to address it because sense never fails to give them that have it words enough to make them understood.

2.       I hope you don’t carry being upset at people for violating your boundaries when you haven’t communicated them. Verbalize. Speak. Let everyone know where you draw the line. Do not think people will read the signs or assume that they know. Tell them. Be it your colleagues, friends, partner, child or that random person you meet on the road, let them know they can get this far.

3.       I hope you don’t carry thinking that saying something once is enough. Remember how often our parents, guardians or caregivers kept repeating the same thing to us when we were young until we got it? That’s the principle we apply here, repeating it until it sinks in their heads. Never get tired, also, of telling God about your goals and aspirations. Praying about it once is good but Jesus told of a lady who persistently went to a judge’s home seeking for justice until she found it. Be that lady (in Luke 18.7) this year. Until it happens, we won’t stop praying.

4.       I hope you don’t carry trying to do everything yourself. When Moses’ father-in-law saw how he was overworking himself he was like ‘the work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.’ (Exodus 18.18) And the same thing is true for us too. That yes, we do not want to be a bother to others but please, if you can get help, then ask for it. There is no reward for overworking yourself. You may gain in any other aspect but be sure your health and relations will hurt and the cost will not have been worth the sacrifice.

5.       I hope you don't carry forced or dead connections. Go where you are wanted and valued. It is an innate thing to want to be around certain circles but if they do not reciprocate the energy, then leave. You will always be wanted somewhere and if you completely have none, then you have a father in heaven who loves you with an everlasting love. In the same breath, leave dead spaces that no longer add value to you. Friendships, relationships, circles, churches or any social spaces that you are in should be there to benefit and build your life. If they don’t, then leave. It is difficult but you need to love yourself more than the comfort of mediocrity.

So cheers to a successful year full of intentionality and purpose.