About this time of year I start to notice something about me… and my fellow human beings…

Tell me if this looks familiar…

The gloss of the new year starts to wear a little thin…

And little by little we start to give way to that little voice in our head that tells us that we were crazy for thinking this year was ever going to be different anyhow.

Who are we kidding, we are meant to be unhappy, broke, overweight, stressed, separated from God, fill-in-your-own-vice-here forevermore…

No one ever really gets it together, right?

No one except extreme cases ever lose the weight for good, get their finances under control, fall back in love, get their house in order anyhow, achieve balance, right?

And then we take the hope that we courageously planted just a few weeks ago and we uproot it so that we can quietly and violently smother it to death with the shame of we aren’t good enough, so why did we even try…

Sound familiar?

Or is it just me?

This year, I am choosing to listen to a different voice.

One that says failing is the sign of someone trying.

The voice that says I would rather try than become a failure because I never tried again.

When I really think about it, failing and continuing to try has a pretty GOODe record at this house…

I failed for two years at a marriage on the brink of divorce…730 days of fights, tears and unhappiness. Only to eventually come out on the other side married to my best friend in life 13 1/2 years strong.

I failed at managing my finances and resources so badly that we not only racked up unbearable debt once, but twice in those 13 years… Only to find Financial Peace two years ago and break free of the debt and habits that had us chained- knocking everything but cars/mortgages out this past year… and this year, we are coming for them .

I failed for the last 15 years to really connect with God and a church family in the way I know God intended me to and for the last 5 months we have been home at the church we know beyond all shadows of doubt that God created us to serve. It has completely revolutionized my family in a way that 6 months ago I would have laughed at you if you had tried to tell me.

I could go on and on… I just never thought of failing like this before this year…

Apparently athletes have been on to this road to success for some time…

So how about it? Are you up for a year of trying yet again?