WOW, sit down, friend. What a year this has been. I want to share with you our final cup of coffee for 2021, so sit down and enjoy. This is going to be a great sip.
I want to share something that really shifted my perspective this year:
Your heart beats about 100,000 times in one day and about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times. Give a tennis ball a good, hard squeeze. You're using about the same amount of force your heart uses to pump blood out to the body.
On average, a person at rest takes about 16 breaths per minute. This means we breathe about 960 breaths an hour, 23,040 breaths a day, 8,409,600 a year.
That’s enough to tell him thank you!! Think about all of the ways that he has made for you, opened doors that no man can shut, provided for you, kept you, protected you from dangers seen and unseen. Wow, we have so much to be grateful and thankful for.
I am a planner by nature. I love to organize and operationalize with the best of them. That being said, no plan or strategic goal can outweigh the gratefulness of my heart. Yes I had goals for 2021 that I haven’t actualized, but I’m grateful I’m not the same person I was when this year started. My word for this year was grow|growth and I have grown, but I am not done. I am looking forward to growing more in the areas of my life that are still not pleasing to the Lord.
Normally at the beginning of the year we rush to change so much. I can’t blame anyone for that type of approach, but this year I am going to focus on an area that has snuck up on me unaware...my language to myself and in faith. I have to watch what I say. Has anyone gotten trapped in the cycle of cynicism?
Cynicism is defined as an attitude characterized by a general distrust of others' motives. A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism etc. Have you found yourself being a cynic towards the promises of God or his plan for your life? It is so easy to get into a negative thought journey of hopelessness and despair.
The lack of empathy and discontent that comes with cynicism is overwhelming. We must break the negative self-talk to walk in a renewed sense of gratitude For 2022. The Bible is clear “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
Proverbs 18:21 ESV
I have chosen to choose life and gratitude. I want the fruit of my life to show that I loved His word, prayer, and His people.
So friend, thank you for being with us for 2021. Let’s finish our last sip, grateful for all He has done and all that He will do. Let's continue to grow somewhere grateful for the journey.
“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
