The beginning of a new year brings opportunities to dream new dreams, to discover new visions and to take important steps toward fulfilling your destiny. The pause we create as we say goodbye to the old year and embrace what lies ahead, gives us time to listen to the voice of the Spirit and respond to the heart of God. This is the time to be attentive to what God is saying and to direct our lives accordingly.

Each year multitudes of people may commitments to themselves, to others and even to God. Their New Year’s resolutions seem fixed in their minds and possibly in their hearts. The intentions are good, but the follow-through is not. Somewhere between the affirmation and the action something gets lost, and they return to the way things were before… comfortable and familiar.

This year, I want to challenge you to something different. I want to encourage you to use these days to diligently seek God for His vision for your life. What is it that God wants you to do or become? Then I want to encourage you to take some steps to make that a reality in your life. It will take more than a wish. It will take a proactive choice and a commitment to see that choice through.

One of the first steps you can take to making God’s vision a reality in your life is to consider your crowd. “My crowd?” you ask. Yes, you know, the crowd you permit to surround you and influence you. If you are going to give that vision life then you must ask yourself if you are surrounding yourself with people who will help get you to where you are going. Is your crowd supportive of your passion for God? Are they willing to challenge you when you try to stop pressing forward or if you choose a contrary path?

So often, we pay little attention to the impact of others on our lives and we miss their ability to inspire us, and sometimes discourage us. People naturally gravitate toward people who are like them. Have you ever noticed how it seems that the complainers all cluster together, each one fueling the others’ concerns. The negativity grows and the entire group becomes ever more entrenched in those destructive patterns.

The good news is that it works both ways. Surrounding yourself with positive people, those who have great faith and keep pressing on to win the prize, will begin to have an effect on you. The more you are with them, the more you too will begin to embrace an attitude of possibility and promise. Even a negative person can become a person of great vision if they allow God to work in their lives and surround themselves with positive people.

I am not suggesting that you abandon your friends or your family, but rather, that you allow yourself to soak in the attitude and spirit of people of great faith so that you can achieve God’s purpose in your life and so that you can be a positive influence in your other relationships.

Fulfilling your resolutions will require more that just the right crowd, but with the Spirit’s help, it is a powerful first step toward making God’s vision a reality in and through you.

Be blessed as you seek God and His kingdom in this new year.