It has been a while since my last blog post. I have not had time to sit and jot down my thoughts. Being the last day of 2014, I am compelled to put out one last post for this year. A year I cannot wait to end and usher in a new year. It is the last day of 2014 and in a few hours...actually less than 3 hours, it will be 2015. It is already 2015 in Australia, it is the year 5775 in the Hebrew calendar and China will usher the new year on 19th February,2015. It almost seems that life has been reduced to arbitrary numbers scattered all over the world. You see, our lives are defined by these numbers. Your birthday is a date and your death will be yet another date. Dates that will be remembered by your loved ones for a long time.
For the better part of the last decade, every new year had a theme. Two thousand and FIVE (2005) was a year to THRIVE. 2007 was the year of perfection, 2008 was the year of new beginnings and so on. For a while I waited to hear what the theme of the year would be so that it could define the year. Like most people, I usually start the year with renewed passion and a list of goals I would like to accomplish in the year based on a revealed truth. Obviously, somewhere in February, life reverts to its normalcy and becomes mundane. I realized that life is what you make it to be. You decide your own destiny. Unlike other years though, 2014 never quite started for me. I never felt it start and this feeling did not quite leave me till now. It has been an unforgettable year on so many levels for me. This is the year that I lost my only surviving parent, my dad and I remember a time like this last year telling my dad that he will make it to 2014. Indeed, he did but only for 23 days. It has since been a bag of mixed emotions for me. It is the year also that I changed my status from being a 'married' bachelor to a 'full-time' married man. Sylvia, my wife and reader of my blog was living far away from me till the eve of our 1st wedding anniversary. A long distance marriage we had. A difficult season. I am grateful that the year is over and a new year beckons.
Apart from the loss of my dad and my long distance marriage, 2014 had other notable events for me. I particularly loved watching the world cup. It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of life. I was particularly interested in #TeamHolland managed by LVG who was the next Manchester United manager after the abyssal reign of David Moyes. The world cup was really good. I also had a great time being part of AFLEWO events in Nairobi, Nakuru and Mombasa. AFLEWO 2014 Nairobi will be remembered for having Dr Myles for the last time in Kenya. It is still fresh in my mind. That was an oasis for me in an otherwise mediocre year.
I am glad 2014 is over and for that I will even blog about it. It feels for me that today marks the end of a season and the beginning of a new one. Someone once said that every trial has an expiry date and today is the expiry date of my trials. I am counting down to a new beginning. I am looking forward to 2015. A great year awaits me. One of my Facebook friends recently wrote that they are done flirting with greatness. That captures exactly my sentiments for 2015. I invite you to a journey of greatness this coming year. To help me achieve this, I have come up with two things to reach for this year.
I have purposed to Pray More in 2015. EM Bounds said, 'We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. It surmounts or removes all obstacles, overcomes every resisting force and gains its ends in the face of invincible hindrances'. As a Christian, you cannot afford to live without prayer. 2015 will be a year of prayer for me. I will pray more than I have prayed before.
On top of prayer, I have to Read More in 2015. Great leaders are great readers. If you aspire to become a leader, you must read more. Study the Bible more, read more books, academic or otherwise. I hope to read at least a book a month, 12 books by the end of 2015.
These two things will be the the pillars of my year in 2015. Everything else flows from the two. Reading will lead to other actions and with much prayer, there will be much power. You must be willing to pay the price for greatness. Greatness is not handed on a silver platter, it is pursued relentlessly until it is achieved. Paul says, I press on to the mark of the high calling. 2015 is my year of my high calling so I will press on till I get it. 2015 may not be the year that I get to live my full potential but it will be the year that I will do my part. I will not leave my destiny to chance but I will take charge.
What will 2015 be for you? Decide and pursue it. It will be a long 365 days but let us keep the passion and when novelty ends, let purpose prevail. 2014 is over and welcome to 2015, a blank book yet to be written.
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