One of the things about the New Year
is there is a certain hope and contagious expectation with which most
people start a year. Somehow there is a new surge of faith that
says that the life that has been afforded is a divine sign that there is going
to be change for the better in the future. With this new surge, several people
start out with New Year resolutions that sadly do not last the first week of
the year.
I was on a Radio show the other day
and one of the members of the panel said that New Year resolutions should be
scrapped! Perhaps she had seen enough failures at it but the truth most times
is that people sometimes set unrealistic expectations that are only doomed to
fail, leaving them paralysed with guilty feelings. At other times, the
resolutions have just been mere wishes with no concrete plans on how it would
be achieved. When I was in High school, one of the paintings on the central
building which we as students had to see daily was a quote by
Benjamin Franklin “If you fail to plan you plan to fail “ .
Since I assume most people have made
their plans/goals/resolutions or currently making them, permit me
to add (just in case it is not already on your list ) that for this year, make
a resolution to be more grateful. It is a great way to not
only start the year but to continue the year. Be grateful to God and to people.
Most things God does for us happen through human agents and we should never
take this for granted. Always make a big fuss about what people do for you. Do
not take any little act of kindness for granted, I always tell myself people
are not obligated to do anything for you.
Over the Christmas period,
I had the privilege of giving and receiving gifts from people. There were
varied responses to the gifts I gave. For some people, it seemed they just
managed to offer a polite Thank you and did not bother afterwards. For some
others, they did not only say the initial Thank you but got to their homes and
still sent Thank you messages. You sure do not need a prophet to tell you that
the latter group will be the first on my list next time.
Usually at the beginning of the
year, we are optimistic that “this is going to be the year”
which gradually wanes down sadly and I do not just want this to be one of those
up and down years for you. If there is anyway I have learnt to remain cool calm
and collected, it is to always always look for reasons to be
grateful, specifically. This will keep you all year round. It is a top
secret tip for being a very attractive person and one people
would definitely want to be around. Let us be extremely deliberate
about gratitude for gratitude is an enhancer of relationships.
It is easy to start being
grateful,start as you wake up each day, take each as a gift from God and
watch out for little mercies along the way and be grateful.
On this note, I want to
say "Happy New Year" and a big “Thank
you” for following this blog and sharing with all your fans, friends and
family.
In His Service,
Grace Tom-Lawyer.
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