It’s the time of year when it’s out with the old and in the with new. The calendar says its a new year so we make plans, hoping for a fresh start, a time of new beginnings. Although nothing has really changed beyond the flip of the calendar page, we have the illusion of new beginnings. 

Many of us make resolutions that we will finally get rid of clutter, or we will get fit, or finally organize the house. This is the year we find simplicity. This will be the year that is different. This will be the year where we clear the clutter of life once and for all.

Yet, somehow the next calendar year rolls around and we find ourselves in that familiar place again, flipping the calendar page and resolving for simplicity.

Round and round we go. Year after year. 

At one time in my life, I realized that this life was moving forward, quickening at a pace that was a little out of my comfort zone and speeding up quicker than I knew how to keep up with. It became real that the calendar page that flipped each year was less of a do-over and more of a reality that time was moving forward.

All of those do-overs will run out. It is time to fix my eyes ahead and realize that there is only one shot at this life.

The times of do-overs are gone. The time for living is now. The time for facing life head on is now.

I don’t want to spend my life making resolutions and repeating them year after year. I want to live each moment, fully aware of the fleetingness of time.

We can not hold onto this life any more than we can hold onto the wind, but because there are so many tangibles here, we are under the illusion that holding onto them means holding onto life.

Last week, when I was faced with the reality of my own mortality, I knew more than ever this was not a time for resolution but a time for steadfastness and perseverance and motivation to push forward. Not to repeat the same cycles over and over again.

Whether it is clutter you are resolving to end for this year or to find simplicity, or whatever it is, may you realize that change begins with facing the truth of life.

What are you living for?

Who are you living for?

Are your eyes fixed on eternal?

Or are you consumed with the earthly?

Are you seeking God first in all you do? Do your decisions, your life choices, your actions all flow from a heart that is fixed on Him? Or do you make choices and then seek Him afterward?

Is God your first thought or an afterthought?

I truly believe there is no complex answer to living simply. There is no secret 10-step program to organization. I believe the remedy to chaos and clutter is so simple we can miss it.

The remedy to chaos and clutter is Jesus. The more we desire Him, the less we desire of this world. It is that easy.

Seek Jesus. 

Desire less.

The world and all its treasures become much less desirable when we find our purpose in life is to glorify God, not ourselves.

So as you being this year, resolve to stop revolving year after year, ending in the same place just a year older. Resolve to make the most of every moment in this life for Jesus.