Making the Change

Mark Batterson noted in his blog "In the 1960’s, a study was done on the campus of Yale University. The subjects were Yale seniors who were educated about and encouraged to get a tetanus shot. Most of the students were convinced by the lecture that they needed to get the shot. But only 3% actually went and got the shot.

Another group of students were given the same lecture, but they were also given a copy of the campus map with the location of the health center circled. Then they were asked to look at their weekly schedules, make a plan for when they would go and take the shot, and look at the map and decide what route they would take. 28% of that control group got the shot. That is nine times as many! Why the radical increase? Because they identified how, when, and where?"

We all need to make changes in our lives going into the New Year. Start or stop doing something, learn to say no or submit to saying yes. But in the end, 3% will make changes not knowing the how, when, and where.

Set aside one hour. Look at your planner and schedule it now. Don’t wait. Make that appointment with yourself and keep it above everything else you might have going on that day.

Spend this hour in prayer and journaling. Make a list in your journal set up in headers: prayers, family, friends, creativity and needs. Ask your self the hard questions and be honest. Make this your daily self assessment. Ask God to make it known what changes in my life are needed. Be still and Listen.

Start now. This is your New Years Resolution, your Goal, call it what you will. Make it a change that honors God. Start out slow with no more than there resolutions!

Once you pen these to paper in your journal refer to them daily. Send them as a reminder to yourself from your calendar every day. Whatever it takes to make it happen. When you set out knowing the how, when and where, change will come that much easier.