PRACTICE: Evaluate your first six months of 2021.
I sat to evaluate my progress toward the attainment of my goals for 2021. In the process, I thought of the old-time blackboard of my youth. In my mind’s eye, I had been naughty in the classroom and as punishment, the teacher firmly required that I miss recess and write on the blackboard fifty times, “I will not talk while Ms. Foster is speaking.” Does this sound like a real-life experience or what? It is. I was an outstanding student academically but my conduct in the classroom was sometimes less than admirable resulting in my missing recess periodically. Once Ms. Foster and the rest of my classmates returned from recess and she took note of the completed project, the eraser was placed in my hand with these words, “Erase the board.” I never once told her what I really thought about the erasing my hard work. I simply complied. Ms. Foster didn’t bring up my propensity to engage in misplaced conversation or berate me…the slate was clean. I had a fresh start (until the next time and there was always a next time).
At the midpoint of 2021, my evaluation points to the fact that I need to use the eraser, clean the blackboard and start over…not everywhere but the places of new starts are crucial if I am to achieve the goals set by December.
Sugar has crept back into my diet. It started with allowing myself to have a dessert on Sunday. Then it became a dessert on special occasions and Sundays. And now it is multiple times a week. I shared my goal to walk the distance to Austin, Texas virtually by year’s end. I am approximately 45 miles off schedule. The reclamation of sugar is wiped from the blackboard with the eraser of forgiving myself. A new workout schedule promises to clear the deficit of miles.
Like Ms. Foster I will not berate myself for having missed the mark. She was graceful toward me. I will do the same and be graceful toward myself.
Each time our eyes open to dawning of a new day, the eraser has wiped the blackboard clean, and we are granted the opportunity to begin again. The only hindrance to the new start stares back at you in mirror when you brush your teeth, or shave or put on your makeup.
Lamentations 3:22-23
PONDER THIS THOUGHT---It is only too late to start again when you say and live like it is too late.
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