New year new me has quite literally become my slogan for everything. People offer me unhealthy food and instead of politely refusing I respond with:new year new me. Before people have even finished offering that slice of fluffy red velvet cake smothered in cream cheese icing and I get a chance to start salivating the way you are now, I interject with new year new me.
They follow up with questions…
Oh are you on another diet Dani?
One slice of cake isn’t going to kill you is it?
How long are you going to be on this thing?
Instead of humouring their inquisitions I offer another new year new me and let that be the end of it. To everyone who’s wondering, It’s not just another diet, one slice of cake won’t kill me, but will most definitely lead to another, and I’m going to be ‘on this thing’ for the foreseeable future! Eating well is all part of a lifestyle change that brings me one step closer to being the Dani I want to be.
So we’re five days in and I’m quite proud that I haven’t dropped the ball. I’ve been eating little and often and enjoying getting fuller on less food but I can’t help feel like I’m giving a half truth ( which translates to a complete lie ) when I utter the words new year new me. Yes I’m heading in the slimmer direction but what about the new me that’s closer to God, that’s kinder, more forgiving, reads her bible everyday and meditates on it? What about the new me that’s not afraid to stop a stranger and speak to them about Jesus? What about that girl that’s on fire for Christ instead of the girl in 2014 who was simmering away on low heat?
I want 2015 to really be a new year that produces a new me. I don’t just want it to be the year I got into shape. Knowing me diets will come and go, and weight will fluctuate, but the important changes, the ones that depend on me consciously pursuing my saviour, need to be a no-going-back-can’t-believe-the-girl-I-used-to-be-cheers-to the-girl-God-has transformed-me-into-kind of change.
This year I’m going to step out of my comfort zone and step into my destiny. The destiny that includes spreading the gospel near and far. Rome wasn’t built in a day and I don’t expect to see a miraculous transformation overnight, but this is a declaration of the pursuit of God that starts now.
What are your New Years resolutions? Are they the usual, stop smoking, start the gym, get a better wardrobe kind of changes, or have you decided to make this year, the year that changed it all? God promises a transformation (in Christ there is a new creation, old things are passed away, everything is made new) but what are you going to do to see it happen?
Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2
When you want to get slim you have to change your eating and adapt your exercise regime. If you want to see a change in your walk with God, you’re going to have to make some changes.
Today I commit to the daily renewing of my mind (opening up my Bible to meditate on the words within)
Love lots
Dani
The Perfect Piece 