If any of you have young children or grandchildren, you may have seen the movie Frozen in which these 3 words (let it go) were forever etched into that part of your brain that plays animated movie soundtracks ON REPEAT. While we may not desire to ever hear this song again - EVER – there is something very liberating in the idea of letting go of the things that have been holding us back. In fact, the Bible has much to say about letting go, casting aside, and even forgetting those things that are weighing us down; those things that need to be left in the past!

As the end of one year approaches, another begins. Isn't it wonderful, the sense of new beginnings, fresh starts, and (for some of us) a good, school playground type of "do-over." Does anybody need a "do-over"?

A good place to begin to plan for the "new" is to look at the "old" and take note of both the victories and the failures, the high notes and the low, the God appointments and the disappointments. I read a statement the other day, "Old ways don't open new doors," and how true that is! If we want different results, we must do something different! Let's celebrate the victories, and let us also press on to a higher place in our areas of failure and disappointment.

Paul says it beautifully,

"No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us."
- Philippians 3:13-14

God is always calling us higher. It is not a demand for perfection, and it is not a place reached through the striving frenzy of the flesh. No, when God calls us to come up higher, it is a place of rest and trust. It is a place of peace in who He has made us to be, and persistence to develop in the graces and gifts He has placed within us. It is loving where we are, and knowing there is more to be had in Him.

Let's locate where we are; let's look at where we'd like to be, and let's press toward that mark in the coming year!

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* Individual results may vary.