Even though it has only been 1 month since Christmas, in the blink of an eye it will be Christmas time all over again.  Time seems to move so quickly.  I tease my wife all the time and tell her, “It’s only 11 months until Christmas”.  She sweetly snickers, rolls her eyes, and occasionally mumbles, “Oh, brother….”  Doesn’t it feel like we just had Christmas and it has already been a month?

Where has the time gone this past month?  Have you already abandoned your New Year’s Resolutions?  If you want to improve yourself by the end of this year, start right now.  Whatever your goal may be, get on the path to acheive your goals now or you will be wishing you did in a year from now and making the same old New Year’s resolutions (that you will probably break again next year).

If you want more money, focus on starting your own business now.

If you want to lose weight, start exercising and eating healthy now.

If you want to be a better Christian, start daily Bible studies now.

If you want to be a better parent, start right now.

If you really think about it, you probably already know what you need to do and what you should do to achieve whatever you want.  The key to acheiving it is actually doing it.  We do what we want to do.  Most of the time, what we want to do right now will not give us the long term results that we really want.  Just take a look at debt in this country (and the root cause of the economic situation we are in now).  People want things now instead of doing the hard and not-very-fun thing of earning and saving the money first.  So, people go into massive debt that they can’t afford.  Then with the interest added on top of it, it makes it even harder to catch up.

This is the same pattern for most anything.  Take being overweight as an example.  Exercising and eating right are not very fun and it takes an ongoing effort.  It is much more fun and easy to eat that banana split (my favorite) or go through the drive-thru and pick up a super-sized “value” meal.  After all, there is always tomorrow to start exercising.  However, that tomorrow never comes.  I think you see where I am going with this…..

The bottom line is that it is your choice.  I talk about choices all the time.  Everything you do is a choice and only you can make those choices.  Whether they be easy or difficult, you decide the path of your future.  You are who you are today because of the decisions you have made in the past - like it or not.  And….  The choices you make from this point on will determine who you will become.  You are in control of your future.  Make wise choices and you can the person you want to be.

- Hill