January 8 Do You Remember the Uncola?

The new year has started, and I am sure that I have brought some of last year with me. As a leader, have you done the same? Only a few days have passed, but I am certain that I have already made some mistakes and my team has as well.

Of the mistakes, they included that I missed some opportunities. Have you and your team done the same? Because we have been connected and providing value in some way in the past, we carry momentum with us into the future.

That momentum can be identified if we look through the errors and into the opportunity. Opportunity came with us into the year as well. There are almost always two sides of a story. Almost every challenge is an opportunity. But our thought processes can sometimes be a trap.

With confidence, I can say that I have been unjust, unforgiving, unproductive, unfocused, and unloving at some moment. I have felt that unless someone else fixes their mistake that my world will be off.

I might have even felt that until others address their errors that I cannot proceed in some way. Do you see the un in those words? Really, stop reading and look for the letters u and n put together as un. As a leader, our value might be found in looking at the nu(new) instead of the un.

Where can we flip the letters and flip our attitude? By choosing to view an error, mistake, or challenge in a new way, we can reorganize and find more value. When one recognizes the un, as in being uncomfortable or unsettled, we might benefit by simply recognizing it and stopping.

Changing perception can start with an attitude of mitigating and reorganizing the un for something new. Will we choose to undo for something new? What is the first thing that you can do about it with your team?

Those uns can really be nonproductive in our walk with each other and in our faith. But if we do the attitude shift to reorganize what is new then we might see a new experience. It might be a new day for growth, progress, and love.

 It might be for something better, something towards that which God has prepared us for. We read, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV.

I believe that God sent his son for the greatest of the un words. That word is undone. I have messed up and not loved as God has asked me to love. Christ has undone that result through his sacrifice. I have felt that until my transgressors do me right, I am owed.

Christ has undone that "until." We can throw that chip on our shoulder away and do something new about it that will glorify God. Perhaps it is undone when I forgive. When I am seeing others treated in an unjustified manner, maybe my words and actions can be of a healing and gathering attitude.

The shift in attitude is about me. I must accept responsibility to put my thoughts together to move away from the un and move me to a better new. Maybe something in the last year or last day or anytime this new year seems unjust.

Has someone been unloving to you? Have you felt that until something happens you cannot move forward? Have you been looking underfoot? Our answer just might be in the heavens and in the new that Christ brought us many years ago.

We can choose to stop being in the unsettled. May we make progress today and bring the new to life in us. Where do you choose to start in the next seven days?

Let us pray, Jesus, thank you for your undoing. You came and brought miracles to undo the ramifications of the sins of the world for our brothers and sisters. You take the unjust and show the power of love. You take the unloved and bring them to a new relationship of love.

Help us to move forward today holding onto the new. May we honor the undoing that you brought to the world. I pray that your comfort be with us as we act now to undo what we need to make new in our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen,