New Year Eve Fever

It is a week left of year 2013, a day of self-appraisal; I started my day looking back at my goals at the beginning of the year what it has metamorphosed into over the months. It is incredible how thing turned out, a lot to thank God for making my set goals a reality.
While this reflection is not about thanksgiving, I am thinking of the many religious beliefs we have attached to the “New year” which for me is another cycle of 12 calendar months. Nigeria is a very religious country if not the most religious country in world; with proliferation of churches it is clear that religion is part of our DNA.

It is very odd not to be church on the 31st of December, mostly called the “Passover night” that is one day of the year you must pray so that the New Year will be prosperous. We act like our mind, body and thinking will just change in a twinkle on an eye once it is 12 midnight forgetting that it just another day and another cycle of the calendar year. Every new year churches have new themes that describe how the year will turn out for members , “2013 my year of abundant blessing” , “2013 my year of financial breakthrough”, “2013 my year of signs and wonders……” raising the hopes of believers that the year will be blissful. Most church leaders also have a list of prophesies of their premonitions in the new year, some are known as prophets of doom who see the evil ahead while the prosperity preachers pronounce specific prophesies on members who claim the blessings ahead with all their might.
I may be sounding cynical, but I just think there is a lot left in the optimism we project on the 31st of December. We pray and believe that we can achieve the impossible by doing nothing. 2013 will be prosperous because our church theme says so; 2014 will be the best year ever because I claimed Pastor’s prophesies.

Can we be honest and assess the hope we had in the beginning of the year with what we eventually achieved?
Can we be honest and reconcile our level of faith in God and walking the work to reflect the miraculous themes we professed at the beginning of the year?
Did we just let each day come doing nothing because we have faith? Was I clouded by prophecies and prayers and forgot my role in the scheme of things?
Did I attribute my woes to the witches and wizards in my village yet I was a lazy church freak?

We take the path of self-deception in believing that what we couldn’t achieve was because God did not ordain it and console ourselves with our popular church cliché “it is well”.
It will be very well if we match our faith in God with work, setting goals and KPIs to see the signs and wonders we hoped for in the beginning of the year. We need to genuinely appraise ourselves and stop making God look like a liar; Faith without work is dead!

As we end the 12th Month of 2013 we need to reflect and have a sense of responsibility, God has given us the will; the scriptures tells us in Proverb 16:9 that “the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. It is very clear that God expects us to plan and take the necessary steps to actualize our goals.
As we entrust our plans to our creator, he orders our steps to have a purposeful year.

January 1st is the beginning of a New Year; it is also another day in your life, simply get over the New Year eve fever and make each day count.

Happy holiday 🙂