Every New Beginning Or New Achievement is Born in Death!

Entering a new year often stirs our ambitions and inflates our dreams and we write and utter amazing goals both of great dimension and small diameter. The New Year seems magical and without limitations; thus, we make daring resolutions and proclaim courageous I am gonna(s) . All the while our inner selves know we have traveled this road before with unimpressive results.

Hence, the reality of our resolutions is part hope, part doubt and part cynicism.

Every year many of our resolutions become mere Disney notions filled with low (to no) expectations that we will follow through this year.  I could share statistics of unfulfilled resolutions but I invite your reflection of – the many people you know (even consider yourself) from last year that haven’t:  begun exercising, lost weight, looked for a new job, saved any money, started a new career/business, quit smoking, begun volunteering, removed themselves from toxic relationships, etc., etc.? So, why am I making such venomous claims so early in our desire to believe we will _____?  Because I know, we (me included) can reverse our dismal outcomes.

Speaking of possibilities and the New Year, Howard Thurman says: “The individual stands in the midst of a stream of vitality, awareness, and fluidity, and is able, by an act in the present moment, to do for him (her) or for the context in which he (she) is operating, something that nothing else in the world can do”.

Yet, I must inject a sobering truth serum – reversal of our dismal resolution outcomes and our ability to take action toward “something that nothing (no one) else in the world can do” begins with our realization of:

Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death!

As we enter this New Year, we need not wear the bridle of low expectation. In fact, we must remain daring and courageous! But if our resolutions, dreams and goals are to become – embracing the requirement of our death (and burial) is imperative. Furthermore, if we are to nurture and birth “something that nothing else in the world can do”, forging to create fertile places (such as our spirit, mind, actions, sphere of influences, etc.) is an absolute necessity. I know we have this potential because the Ultimate Creator promised anyone who believes in me will do even greater works than I.

Why is death the beginning? A seeds greatest hope to become - is the soil where it is planted. We make resolutions, dream dreams, write goals then plant them in toxic soil. For example, when one resolves to become debt free, and precedes to max out a credit card then opens a different credit account because they did not have any money is an example of the need for death.

The challenges we face are not our resolutions but our resolve.

Making the resolution of financial freedom is noble but the first challenge is pronouncing death on the impulse for immediate satisfaction and an inclination to fulfill wants before meeting needs. Without a stalwart resolve, the seed of being debt free is suffocated and stifled by the old habit of financial recklessness.  If our dreams and resolutions are to crystallize, intense evaluation of: our habits, choices, the people we permit to influence us, our spiritual, emotional and physical wellness, etc. is urgent. Every new beginning or new achievement is born in death.

Resolutions, dreams and goals are seeds pregnant with possibilities requiring a death before they are realized. Jesus’ own death and life is the consummate example of the new life and the new beginnings that can be wrought from death. In the below scriptures, Jesus bears witness to the origin of new achievements and the consequences for overlooking them:

 “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink

and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before”. Matthew 9:16

 “I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone.  But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives”. John 12:24

^“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and

those who lose their life for my sake will save it”. Luke 9:24

As we enter this New Year, let us focus on death not in a morbid sense; rather, as a precondition to fulfill our every resolution, dream, goal and promise. Let us commence to discovering, evaluating and pronouncing death on anything and anyone that is a hindrance to our new beginnings and achievements. I know we can fulfill our resolutions, dreams and goals but we must first pay the price.

Will your resolutions remain Disney notions or

become “something that nothing else in the world can do”?