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By Larry Stockstill

Remember… reconcile… reset. If you will, then prayer, Bible reading, exercise, and family time will become like “clockwork!”

Everyone loves a “reset.” I LOVE when the car trip-o-meter goes back to “00000” with one push of a button! How do you get ready for this new year? The secret of all growth is to be “reset.” My wife gave me this lovely, expensive, German watch many years ago. It is “solar” (charged by the sun, not a battery). It is also “atomic” (set by a radio frequency from Boulder, Colorado).

After a recent trip to Asia, my watch stopped keeping the time. It stayed two hours off time (exactly). I tried everything, but it would not “reset” to Baton Rouge time. I called and emailed anyone I could find in the watch company. Finally, I found a person who told me my problem: On my trip to Asia, my watch had connected to the wrong tower: an atomic signal in JAPAN!

This watch company employee told me to “put your watch in the window, facing west, toward Boulder, Colorado, where the American tower is.”

Three days later: BINGO! The watch got fresh battery power from the sun and it automatically “reset” itself to American time.

That is so similar to us as human beings:

We get depleted in just one day. We need to turn toward the “Son.” Daniel even opened his window and prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day. He “recharged” himself three times every day.

Our souls are seeking for a daily “reset.” Sometimes, we lock on to the wrong “signal” (the world, sinful habits, wrong attractions, bad attitudes). If we will turn away from the world and toward God’s throne every day, we will experience a deep, inward “reset.” If we will turn away from the world and toward God’s throne every day, we will experience a deep, inward “reset.”

How do we get “reset” for 2017?

1) REMEMBER your lessons

God said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The Sabbath was the day God established to think BACK over the events of the previous six days.

Someone has said, “Remember a day before bedtime; remember a week every Sunday; remember a year every New Year.” When you carefully reflect back over the events of a span of time, you glean the lessons time has taught you (experience).

2) RECONCILE your relationships

Jesus told us to “leave your gift at the altar, and first go and be reconciled to your brother” (Mt. 5:24). Why carry a grudge and an offense with you into a new year?

Don’t waste another year with a soul full of bitterness and anger. Seek the person out. Regret the loss of the relationship. Ask their forgiveness and receive their repentance.

3) RESET your routine

What did you leave out that you should have done last year? Exercise and weight loss? Daily prayer and Bible reading? Time with children and spouse?

Develop a sustainable routine. “Do something, lest you do nothing.” Walk one block. Don’t eat after 6 pm. Read one chapter a day. Have a 15 minute “quiet time” to pray about what you read. Have a weekly “family night” and “date night.”

Is time management a struggle? I know it can be for me. It’s the new year, and I want to help you learn the 5 secrets of being on time.

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Republished with thanks to Larry Stockstill. Image courtesy of Unsplash.