BEFORE everyone begins their slogans of what to expect in 2018, let’s talk.  I’ve never been the person that enjoys being last minute, nor am I, the girl, who likes to just do what everyone else is doing just because.  I was raised to be a thinker, a planner, evaluator and a person of action and change.  I love a catchy phrase like everyone else but the practical part of me; the responsible portion of me hates to watch people be swayed thinking that the year will be magical because someone said it.  Better yet that somehow things will be greater than their preparation for it.  Let me be clear, God is going to do some amazing things in 2018 just like HE did in 2017, 2016, 2015, etc… “HE (God) is the same yesterday, today and forever more!”  Truth is God is like the church folks say, God is good, all the time, and all the time God is good!  The key is, where does your life stand?  What preparation have you completed or positioned for your life that should manifest in 2018?  Remember all seeds manifest, good, bad and even the ugly.

One of the wisest things (and there are several) that I have heard my Pastor, Bishop T.D. Jakes, say, is that the hardest part for a preacher is feeding God’s people.  The aggressive eaters grab everything and the passive miss too much so being able to give every member exactly what he or she needs is difficult.  That’s soooooooo true!  Thousands will attend what we in the church call, Watch Meet Service and there will be a lot of encouragement shared, good words going out and they are true.  However, the individual must be real about where he or she is in the midst of the good word!  Sometimes you’re at the beginning, sometimes in the middle and other times at the end of the process; then there are the times where that good word is seed for you, meaning you haven’t even began down the road.  Sometimes the things heard are new and fresh while others are ready for harvest; you are just now planting the seeds to begin a journey that they are completing and that’s okay, as long as you know where you are in the journey.

In 2018, you will receive the harvest for the seeds you’ve planted and cultivated.  Some seeds planted, you didn’t cultivate and as a result they died due to lack of attention. There are seeds planted you forgot about, didn’t mean to plant but they live on little to none attention and they will harvest in 2018, of course these are the seeds and the harvest you don’t want to receive.  Negative seeds grow fast like weeds and can kill the vegetation of a good seed.  Now I do not share this information say that all is lost, because it is not!  The year, 2018, can be great, but knowing what you planted in 2017, what requires uprooting and changing is the key.  You can never a great future without dealing with your past, otherwise it (the past) will come to haunt you every time.

1. Evaluate the past, regroup and scoop! – Scoop up the seeds of weeds or negative things planted, fertilize the ground and plant new seeds
2. The only to change the future is not just knowing the past but having a great understanding of the past! Once you understand the decisions you made and why you made them, then you can correct and grow from them.
3. Cultivate the good seeds and starve the negative ones!
4. No one said you had to wait for a new year to make changes, In 2018, use & live every day to its fullest. Use each day as a new beginning to accomplish your goals, feed your strengths, build relationships and starve weaknesses.
5. Graze from the excitement of others but feed from within.
6. Don’t compare your process, progress or success to others; even similar goals have different individuals with different backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses and challenges.  Comparing can take you back, set you back and make one abandon his or process.  Don’t do that!
7. Make your own mistakes!  Everyone makes mistakes but the worse thing is to make mistakes based on the influence or advice of others.  You have to live with it and it wasn’t your decision.

This year of 2018, can the year of growth, change, and the best year of your life; but not because of a cliché but because of the work you do, the things you improve in and on, the difference you live by and the actions you take.