“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.” Isaiah 43:18
We have finally embarked upon a New Year! It is the year that so many of you have anticipated for several months, hoping that 2021 would serve to eradicate the difficulties, trials, tribulations, losses, sadness, and some times seemingly insurmountable odds, especially those related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Although 2020 was a year fraught with difficulties and losses from beginning to end worldwide, it’s time for you to focus on what’s ahead of you instead of what’s behind you. Your future is greater than your past. By the mere fact that you are still here to read this eblast, you are a conqueror.
Here is your opportunity to make 2021 the windshield of your life. Your windshield allows you to have an unobstructed view and vision of your life in the present and glances into your future. As you look through your windshield in order to attain your goals for the new year and beyond, it’s also time for you to intentionally place the past losses and past atrocities of 2020 in the rearview mirror of your life. Your past is just that; you have moved beyond it and it is behind you. The negative experiences you had in 2020 are now behind you; they exist in the recesses of your mind, and sometimes in the remnants of emotions of your heart, only for you to glance at them every now and then. You might not be where you believe you should be; you might not have accomplished all that you believed that you should have accomplished during 2020, but in the larger scheme of things, you are still here…YOU ARE BLESSED! To continue looking back with regret will set you up for an eventual crash. It is not possible for you to move ahead and move forward as you are looking back. Your rearview mirror of your past should only serve as a reminder of the paths already taken, the lessons learned, as well as the strides made as you continue your life’s journey.
Surely, 2020 was probably one of the most tumultuous years of your life. The sadness, the losses, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the heartache, the heartbreak, the disappointments, and the pain are reminders of the year. However, those unfortunate experiences are also indications of your strength, your tenacity, your determination, your heart, your faith, and your resilience to stand and move forward in the midst of adversity. You controlled and corrected what you could control and you prayed about and stood tall in the face of those situations, circumstances, and experiences that you could not control. The mere fact that you made it through 2020, and into 2021, is an indication that you are being given yet another opportunity to get things right in life, in the light of love and respect for self and others. Now it is not that you are more deserving for this opportunity than those persons who transitioned to another realm in 2020; it just means your name was not called and there are still tasks left for you to engage in and complete in this realm of your life.
In reality, your entry into 2021 is indicative of how you got over so many of your 2020 losses, armed with lessons and blessings for you to stand ready and prepared for the arrival of your 2021 gains and wins. The sunshine DOES come after the rain. However, in order for you to behold the sunshine in your life and in your eyes, you must move beyond the darkness in your life and the tears in your eyes. Whatever did not happen for you in 2020 won’t happen for you in 2020; the year is over and in your past. However, you have an opportunity to assess whether what you wanted to happen for you in 2020 was meant to happen, if it was meant to happen for you, and accept that 2020 was not the year for it to happen. You can now revisit, clarify, modify, and rectify those areas in your life that will allow you to have a panoramic view as to whether or not the paths you took in 2020 should be taken in a different manner in 2021, or if they should be taken at all. It is also an opportunity for you to decide if what you didn’t accomplish in 2020 was a denial or a delay. Either way, you are still in one of the most envious positions that millions of souls can’t claim in 2021. You are still alive, with your large windshield in front of you beaming and boasting of opportunity and a future, and your smaller rearview mirror serving as the past in the corners of your mind’s eye.
If you choose to lie in the remnants of the spilled milk of 2020, instead of figuring out how the milk spilled while cleaning it up, the choice is yours. However, no races are won when you remain stagnate with your feet, your mind, your heart, and your spirit stuck in the starting blocks. Here’s your opportunity to first give thanks to God for your life, no matter which state you reside. Think about the more than 344,000 who lost their lives to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, along with the other millions of lives lost in 2020 for other known and unknown reasons. Think about Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and so many others who lost their lives unjustly, because of the color of their skin. I guarantee you that if any of them had a choice in their transition, they would have appreciated the opportunity of still having life, something which you are blessed with in 2021.
Because you still have life, ask yourself what can you do and what will you do with your new and renewed opportunity of life in 2021. It is time for you to recognize that worry, procrastination, lack of action, complacency, and acts of complicity in the face of lies and wrong have never solved anything and they have never gotten you anywhere. It takes action, sometimes the act of letting go, standing for what’s right, believing, praying, forgiveness, and your focus on what’s ahead of and for you, and not on what’s behind you, in order for you to move forward in 2021 and beyond.
It's time for you to not only engage in mental, emotional, physical, economic, work, family, leisure, and education life checkups, it is also time for you to engage in a spiritual life checkup. It is time for you to be reminded of what was requested of you by the late Congressman John Lewis, that if you see something that’s not right, not fair, that’s unjust, that you will stand and say something, as well as do something. Develop your written goals based on your anticipated trajectory in life during this New Year, reviewing them and revising them periodically. However, goals mean absolutely nothing without action steps, timelines, and contingency plans. Learn to take life in small chunks, instead of big hunks. Your goals would be a lot more practical and a lot more attainable if they are written in three, six, nine, and twelve-month intervals. Focus on what’s here and don’t concern yourself about next year.
I challenge you in this New Year to rid yourself of your negative habits, your negative thinking, your negative belief system, your negative behaviors, as well as your selfishness and take on positive habits, positive behaviors, and recognize that until all of us are free, none of us are truly free. Rid yourself of complaining and holding onto the negatives of your past and focus on the positives of the possibilities of your future, starting with 2021. Take a bold stand without shame or regrets to move beyond your falls, your falters, and your failures of 2020, by standing tall and speaking aloud your daily affirmations of I CAN, I WILL, I AM! Here is your opportunity to reform, reframe, refresh, and restart your projects, your relationships, your goals, your direction in life, as well as your life as a whole. Let go of your past and enter into the glory and the power of your present, in preparation for your future! This New Year is your opportunity to “Sum Up Your Blessings Instead of Holding Onto Your Losses,” remembering, but God!
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19
And for those of you residing in Georgia, remember that January 5, 2021, is the last day for you to vote in the runoff election for the two US Senate seats. President Elect Joe Biden & Vice President Elect Kamal Harris need your help in order to ensure a more perfect union, not only for the citizens of Georgia, but for all citizens in the United States. VOTE like your life depends on it; it really does!!!!
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