Planning the New Year?

I put this quote up in my "cover photo" space face book has newly created for us in the so-called "timeline" format. With 2012 racing this direction at the usual speed, I found great wisdom and comfort in what Spurgeon said. He also said this: "Do much, very much, all you can do, and a little more. “How is that?” says one. I do not think a man is doing all he can do if he is not attempting more than he will complete."
Intense. I love it.

He continued: "But, young friend, there is a difference, and more than a slight one, between intentions and accomplishments. We do not always perform what we think we shall, nor do we always reach where we hope to arrive. Failures are as numerous as successes, and even the most successful have failures to mourn over. Good intentions are not so rare that you may begin to crow about them; there is a road which is paved with them, but I would not have you travel it."

I have never been one to proclaim a list of resolutions -- I just never have been able to place any value on it. Let your yes be yes and your no be no... do it or don't do it. Better still "Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil." (Matthew 5:37 ESV)

Spurgeon said plenty about this topic. "A bushelful of resolutions is of small value; a single grain of practice, is worth the whole" and "You had great conceptions, and if they had but been embodied in action something good would have come of them; but where are the ideas now? Were they not smothered in their birth? You resolved to do great things, the plan was thoroughly arranged, and your whole heart was eager to carry it out, but delay chilled the goodly purpose till it died of cold, and it lies buried in forgetfulness. You dreamed well, but there you stopped. As for actual work for the Lord, you had other fish to fry, and therefore you cast out your net for him. You suffered the season for activity to go by, and so your excellent ideas and resolutions melted into thin air, and they are gone."

So where is the encouragement as 2012 continues to race towards us this very second? Spurgeon again answers us: "Hope as much as ever a man can hope; for when your hope is in God you cannot hope too much" .... "Is there nothing to sing about to-day? Then borrow a song from to-morrow; sing of what is yet to be. Is this world dreary? Then think of the next."

Amen. Happy New Year.
 



In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O LORD, hat I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. ~ Psalm 86:7-12
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Just for Fun... HISTORY.COM asks and answers these burning questions:
What does “Auld Lang Syne” mean, and why do we sing the song at midnight on New Year’s Eve?
Who were the first to make resolutions for the new year?
When was the first New Year’s Eve ball dropped in New York’s Times Square?
Who made January 1 the first of the year?
What are some traditional New Year’s foods?
What do Paul Revere, J. Edgar Hoover, Lorenzo de Medici, Betsy Ross and Pope Alexander VI have in common?
~~Find the ANSWERS HERE!

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