Eight Ways to End the Year Well

*Take a fierce inventory of your habits.  What are some defeating or even ungodly habits that need to change?  What are a few positive, life giving habits that could be put in place?

*Get brutally honest with yourself about your role as a husband or wife, father or mother.  Are you taking the initiative to do the right thing as a husband or wife?  Or, are you passively waiting for your spouse?   Are you sarcastic, angry, passive aggressive, or manipulative with your spouse? Would your spouse say that you are overly critical or negative?  Do you tend to be selfish and stubborn?  Are you a moody person and emotionally unpredictable?

Men, by the grace of God, consider stepping up and being a heroic husband or father.  The heroes are not those guys you see with numbers on the back of their jerseys on Sunday afternoons.

The heroes are husbands and fathers who dare to do what they’ve been called to do by God!    

*Take care of unfinished business from 2015.  Have you made certain promises that you’ve not kept?  Do you tend to say you are going to do something but often do not follow through?  Have you intended to apologize to someone but for some reason have not?  Does your spouse feel like you haven’t followed through on some commitments you made to him or her? Do your children remember unfulfilled promises?

*Check your spiritual GPS.  Are you headed in the right direction in your life?  Do you take responsibility for your life?  Or do you tend to blame your spouse, your parents, your boss, etc. for the condition of your life?

*Refuse to live one more day engaging in passive aggressive behavior!  This kind of behavior is neither mature or Christ-like.  Some examples:

• One husband made a joke about the messiness of their home deliberately embarrassing his wife in front of their friends.
• A wife made a big deal, in front of her adult siblings, about something her husband needed to repair but had not.  Of course, he was very embarrassed.
• A family was talking about which restaurant to go to for dinner.  Mom and two daughters wanted to go to a particular place.  The father did not want to go there.  They went anyway. After dinner they returned home.  He sat in his recliner for much of the evening, refusing to speak to his family and pouting about the evening.

*Get honest about the sin in your life.  Consider where the evil one might have a “foot in the door.”  Look for behaviors that you might be justifying in reaction to what someone else has done.  For example, I once knew someone who justified taking supplies from work because “they don’t pay us what they should.”  Consider your thoughts during the past few weeks.  Bring before God any ungodly fantasy that you might be harboring.

*Believe that God is able and willing to move mightily in your life during 2016.  What was 2015 like for you?  Perhaps it was one of your best years ever!  Or, 2015 may have been a year of failure, frustration, and defeat.  Regardless, God is able and willing to move through you in 2016.  Refuse to get stuck in 2016.  The last chapter in your life has not yet been written!