New Year! New You?
2019 is but a few weeks old, still fresh and shiny.  In the last few days, how many of us have set resolutions (both realistic and not!) to make changes in our lives or selves, so that this year we will finally reach that place of happiness and perfection.  January often pushes our, seemingly instinctive urge for change and self-improvement.  But is this the way we are intended to be? Is this how God wants us to live our lives or is it the world’s way?

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

You are a child of God, uniquely made to manifest His glory, the glory that lies within us all.  There is nothing wrong with setting goals to achieve, or intentions to live a certain way, growing and changing as we live each day with God.  But the world would have us think that we need to change to reach the destination of happiness, that we are flawed and in need of fixing.

You are the work of God, and His work is wholly lovable and wholly loving.  This is how a woman (man) must think of herself (himself) in her (his) heart, because this is what she (he) is (A Course of Miracles).

So this New Year instead of making a long list of things that you need to change or improve about yourself; rejoice in the creation that is you, shine your light in the darkness, manifest the glory of God in every aspect of your life, release your fear and believe.  For “as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” (Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles")
A new and exciting year ahead for us yes, but greet it as the (still) perfectly created child of God that you are.

Martha