At the time of year where resolutions and goals are swirling, I want to share with you an idea of mine that is revolutionizing my life and my family. Don't be alarmed at the complexity of it now. It's pretty simple really. I call it "Progress is Progress." It's basically the idea that any step you are making/have made is enough to celebrate. In a world where guilt and shame try to piggyback on our every day with each status update and Instagram we see, what if we took the time to pause and celebrate our progress instead of being defeated by our lack of perfection? I know I'm not alone in this. I know you, like me, saw a friend post something today where they were achieving some grand fitness goal. Or you saw someone who set the goal of being more creative this year and have already pretty much started a new business based on all the creative products they have created in the first 16 days of the year. Or you saw the stay at home mom just like you create 815 mind-enriching activities for their one year old from nothing but a pixie stick and a dirty sock.
If you're like me in my weak moments on social media, you may have started by judging them but then you quickly turned inward and judged yourself. Because you're the one who has the list of a hundred and twelve things you wanted to do better. You're the one who keeps setting the goal of getting in shape but continue choosing pizza and Chuy's over exercising. But here's what I'm saying… What if today, you still went to Chuy's, but you only ate a few chips or you still ate all the chips but you went outside and ran for just 5 minutes? Should you sign yourself up for next month's ironman and interview to be a fitness instructor? Probably not. But did you make progress? Absolutely! That's one step closer to your goal. And that, my friend, is progress. And simply stated, progress is progress… any kind!
Here's another important tidbit to go along with it. I don't get to decide what progress is for someone else. And if you're honest, you know you don't get to either. Progress for one person may not be progress for another. But it doesn't discount how much it was progress for the other. Does that make sense? How about an example... Progress for me yesterday was getting anxious in my car on my way home and being able to pray, even just for a minute. And because there were days last year or even last month that I couldn't pray or that I immediately needed medicine for anxiety, being able to pray for a minute was progress for me. Was I able to meditate for hours on the goodness of the Lord and rest deep in his presence? Honestly... No. But progress is progress. You see?
My friend Dave said something at church on Sunday (Speaking of progress, I was AT church Sunday. That counts too.)... He called us to being patient with each other in our growth. And even patient with ourselves. That's why I'm starting this year celebrating progress. My own and yours. Because it just isn't fair for our feeble human selves to figure it all out perfectly so fast. I know I need the patience from my loved ones as I grow. And I have a hunch that each of you, if you choose to be vulnerable and admit it, could say you need the exact same thing.
So let's allow ourselves and each other more grace this year than ever before. Because really when you allow yourself to think about it, any progress you've made today really is a big deal. Progress is progress, my dear friend. Tonight, I challenge you to apply that to your life and let it soak in in all the places you most feel you don't deserve to give yourself such grace. My bet is that those are the places that most need this kind of TLC, you know?
So repeat it with me now… Progress is progress. Progress is progress. Progress is progress.
Ahh, yes. That's grace for yourself now washing over your soul. You deserve it, my friend.
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