PERKINS: Take time to revive your life in the new year

A new year is here! Another period in which we can either reflect on what we have done in the past and change or improve upon it, or we can refuse to learn from the mistakes that we have made. We can and should look back to see what we can do that we did not do before and set our goals for the new year to do better. As the new year is a change from the old, so we can change. All things will become new, our years as well as everything else. Each day will be pure, clean, spotless, and brand new.

We do have this opportunity to start out the new year as a new person. We can put behind us all the unpleasant things of the past year and look forward to a time of renewed spirit and a chance to make life more worthwhile. It is a time in which we can rededicate our lives and to seek new ways to be the best we can be. It is the time to take a look at what we have been given and reconsecrate our possessions in renewed stewardship.

Every day we leave something undone which we would like to do and which we hope to do soon. Nobody has time for everything, yet everybody has time for that which he considers to be of the greatest importance. It’s never a matter of a lack of time, but always a matter of showing preference for one activity above another.

It’s possible to be so burdened that we are bewildered. Our feverish activity serves only to deaden the pain of an empty life. Consider these facts: All time is given to us by God, and He gives us no time to waste. We need to seek His guidance in the proper use of even the “Fragments of time.” We waste time when we try to do things in our own strength.

A wise man long ago said, “I am determined to send each moment into eternity dressed in the grab that I should desire to wear it forever.” You may also wish to consider this thought as well on the subject of time ... If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400.00, carried no balance from each day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening canceled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, What would you do?

Well cheer up, every person on the face of the earth has such a bank. It’s name is time. Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off, as lost whatever you have failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance, it allows no overdrafts. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

I would like to encourage and challenge everyone to use the gift of time to it’s fullest and invest it to receive the highest dividends. Let’s make each day a time of spiritual enrichment and service, and may we remember what the Psalmist wrote, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Seven steps to reviving your life. First, capture a vision. All great works started with a vision. Second, call for commitment. Third, have a clear focus. Fourth, correct a negative self image. Fifth, plat to your strengths. Sixth, improve and move ahead. Lastly, never give up! It’s too soon to quit! Do have a successful new year.