Well Done

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

How old were you when you finally realized that nobody was watching?

I grew up in a small town. It was literally impossible to get away with anything. If I messed up on the other side of town, my mom somehow found out before I got home. I developed this eerie sense that someone was always watching.

That feeling lasted well into my twenties, long past the time when it was actually true. Then one day I realized that no one was keeping track of me, no one knew most of the time where I was or what I was doing.

It was a startling realization. Sadly, I didn’t handle it well. I used my newly-discovered freedom to make some bad choices, but I learned something important.

I realized that I own my life.

My time, my attention, my decisions—they’re gifts from God, and I decide how they’re spent. I can waste them on mindless TV and computer games. I can spend hours on social media sites. If I choose, I can sit and do nothing.

I can set up my phone to interrupt with all sorts of beeps and boops, check email several times per hour, and chat on the phone in the grocery store. It’s my time. I can be too busy to connect with friends while accomplishing nothing of value. Nobody’s watching.

Same thing’s true for the new year. I can drift aimlessly into 2011 and fill the time with meaningless trivia. I can just take whatever comes and pass the months until another year disappears, and another, until I’m left wondering where the time went.

Or, I can be a responsible steward.

I can make intentional choices. I can set big goals and work toward them. I can turn down the noise, stop pretending that technology controls me, and use the tools rather than allowing them to use me.

I can live each month, each day, each hour on purpose rather than by accident. I can keep in mind that each moment is indeed a gift that’s entrusted to me. I can remember that the final objective is to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” [Matthew 25:23]

We establish our own priorities and our own limits. As someone once said, we don’t determine the wind’s direction but each of us sets our own sails.

I want to do my best with what He’s given to me. 2010 had its ups and downs, but now’s the time to put that behind. If 2010 was a great year, this is the time to build on it. If 2010 was a struggle, you get to begin fresh and make 2011 the best year yet.

I’m doing what I can to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” when it’s all over. I hope you’ll join me.

Are you in?

What’s one thing you’re doing RIGHT NOW to make 2011 a great year?