The two-year new year's resolution

Saturday, 31 December 2005

I think it was about two years ago that Steve Tilley (a member of the clergy from my church in Leamington) preached on the concept of the 'two-year' new year's resolution. I don't remember the substance of it now, but the gist was that a year is often not long enough to achieve some of our greater goals we set as resolutions, and so introduced the idea that we should make resolutions we can more realistically achieve in a two-year time-frame.

I'm not sure if there was any great Christian teaching in all this (!), but these musings did play in the back of my mind in 2004. One of my great life-long dreams has always been to live and work in a Spanish-speaking country, and I spent some time on my own and with others praying through if this was a calling from God.

Well, in May 2004, I took a holiday in Gran Canaria with two other friends. We were there to celebrate our 10th anniversary of living and working there for three months in 1994 as part of a work programme, and to this day many of us have stayed in touch. But walking through streets which I had not seen in 10 years, yet were so familiar to me, my heart yearned to return to a country like this.

At the end of our week in Gran Canaria in May 2004, I set myself a 2-year resolution that I would be back living and working in a country like this two years from now. Of course, this is to some extent a selfish dream, but I prayed through and talked extensively with others about if this was something God might be calling me to.

For those of you reading this who are not Christians, you may ask what the hang-up is about having 'selfish' dreams, and you may wonder if I'm unnecessarily beating myself up to seek the approval of a 'God' in these matters. I could discuss this issue in much greater depth here, but I want to keep things short (so I can finish my story!). I would just say that in my (often painful) experience, dreams that I have not submitted the God who I believe loves me and has the best plans for me, are dreams that usually let me down in the end. If my ultimate dream is to serve and love the God who loved me first and lets me call him 'Father', then nothing can disappoint. As a human, I always have to work at this, but that is my ultimate aim.

Well, it seems that God wanted somewhat to smash my two-year resolution I made in May 2004, as the chain of events that took place over the following year meant that by May 2005, I had been offered a placement to work in Mexico City, and I was on my way to raising money to be out there.

So here I am, having arrived in Mexico in October 2005, eight months ahead of schedule, writing to you from Mexico City. I thank God every day for how he is taking my life forward, both in fulfilling dreams and allowing me to serve him to the best of my ability here. I don't know what the future will bring for good or bad, but I know that whatever comes, I want to submit both doors that open, and doors that close, to God.

And so, as the new year approaches for 2006, I ask myself again, where will I be in two years from now? I know where I'll likely be in one year - in Mexico, as my current placement doesn't end until Spring 2007. But by Christmas 2007, where will I be? Well, my boss here at the mission office has expressed great interest in keeping me here for a longer period of time. There is so much work to do, it seems lame by the scale of my job that I should leave as early as next year.

Over the next year and a bit, I will spend a lot of time thinking and praying if God wants to use me out here for a longer period of time. I am about to start properly on my job in January, so the next few months will give me a greater sense of any potential calling for living in Mexico. But through all this I want to always put my hopes and fears before God, and to know that what doors open for me are his will for my life.

In the first instance, I will more than likely have to return to the UK in Spring 2007, and I will have many challenges ahead of me, not least of a financial nature! But as for Christmas 2007, will I be back in Mexico? Well, my heart has a few ideas, but only the God - for whom nothing is impossible - knows.

Check back in two years...
Happy New Year.

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