Launch Yourself From the Confident Place of Capability

That three-year-old now treats me with disdain when I go to tuck him in for his nap, if I dare try to pick him up and lay him down on the bed. He throws me a saucy look, grabs big handfuls of the comforter and pulls with all of his might to get on the bed himself. And when he arrives on top, that grin he gives me says, “Ha!” He can do it. 

At the ages of five and three, our entire day revolves around the grand celebrations of all these two boys can do.

“Look Grandma, look!” they shout incessantly. 

And for the 576th time I say, “I see! Good job building that yourself.” 

Here is the profound question I have for you at the beginning of a new year: Why do we stop celebrating all that we can do? Well, I’ll tell you something. We have not stopped celebrating at our house (and I’m talking about the grownups.) All summer long Matt ran up Lone Pine, to get in shape for hunting. When he got home, he would tell me his new time record, and I would celebrate with imaginary confetti. And he knows I have a goal to become a chef in our home, so when I make a new delicious recipe, I look over at him and proudly say, “That was pretty cheff-ish, don’t ya think?” 

“Yes it was. You’re doing it!” he says.

Paul says it right there in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Maybe we mistakenly read that verse with our adult brains when we need to read it with our inner five-year-old. I can look back over the years and tell you so many places where I used to fail, but Jesus has helped me leave those failures behind and move toward capability and success. If I can do those things, what else can I do with him as my source of help? My energy to grow in character and tackle new endeavors knows no bounds because of the growing history I have with Christ in me, the hope of glory.  

You will begin this new year from some emotional launching place, be it pessimism or hope. Look back at all that Jesus has done in your life. Count up all of the “I used to but now I’s.” He transforms us, and we need to remember this so that we look toward new goals through a hopeful lens of capability. And yes, we celebrate our accomplishments together (which is really good for a marriage, by the way), but above that we celebrate the “I can” that becomes part of who we are when we follow Jesus.