Follow your desires and dreams in the new year
"For a dream comes with much business and painful effort."
-Ecclesiastes 5:3 (AMP)
By Annettee Budzban
Daily Herald Correspondent
While we're still beginning a new year, let's look at our greatest dreams and aspirations.
On the cold, dark winter evenings, it's a great time to spend a moment with God and share our greatest desires and dreams, and ask God to share with us his aspirations for our lives. Make a list in writing or in your head of things you'd like to do this year. It can be simple things. Sometimes, our abundant life comes in the simple tasks we enjoy.
Make it a year to expand our thinking and discover our genuine selves, not the ones buried under the chores of life. Look at the things we enjoy. What would we put on our list to achieve or accomplish? Don't compare or compete with anyone else. Don't allow anyone to quench our dreams or desires. Hold on to our heart, and ask God to show us how to think big, dream big and achieve big.
Sometimes we know what we want. We just have to try again and stick with it. We focus on how many times we've tried and failed, instead of realizing one more try may do it. If the inventor who harnessed electricity felt that way, we'd still be in the dark. Instead, he kept at it hundreds of times before succeeding.
As we move forward to succeed at enjoying our lives, we should try to gain some new perspectives and wisdom. We can achieve this by reading more; our Bibles are a good source of wisdom. Articles and columns on different topics can broaden our perspective. A few self-improvement books can expand our horizons. If you're not a reader, try some educational television.
Sometimes our dreams involve other people. Making an effort to amend a disagreement or gap in a relationship with family and friends by giving a phone call or sending a note can be a positive step to make that dream come true. Keeping up our efforts to achieve our dreams is what brings about their reality and helps us live a healthy, happy and productive life.
• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.