From here on out, it’s literally a sprint until Christmas and then the end of 2009. How will you remember this year? As a mixture of success and failures? As nothing significant at all? As the biggest year of your life? 

Well, how you remember it will largely be determined by how you finish it. Somewhat like golf, life is divided up into “rounds” that we call years. And like golf, the round isn’t over until the last hole is played. And, if you’re a golfer you’ll understand this, how you remember a round of golf is usually by how you played one particular hole, and unless that experience was quite unusual, the last hole is usually the one that sticks in your mind longest. How you finish the last hole also has a lot to do with how soon you want to play again!

So, whether or not you’re officially enrolled in the Holiday Challenge or not, I’m asking  you to think about finishing the year by sprinting toward the RIGHT goal this year. Sprint toward a goal that finds you more focused on giving than getting. Sprint towards a goal that has you more focused on eating RIGHT rather than eating long or eating big. Sprint towards a goal that has you fitter, leaner, more efficient and less needy, but also wildly extravagant toward others who need things and need grace just to keep going under the burdens of their lives.

And, start today towards this sprint to the end of 2009. Life really does go so much more smoothly if we stay in today. Yesterday can only serve as a reminder of our successes or failures that day, and worry won’t change it. Tomorrow, no matter how hard we strain to control it from today, will NEVER turn out as good as we hoped it would, or as bad as we feared it might! In fact, tomorrow never comes. We truly only have TODAY to live in and to do what we will with it.

Want to see a movie that will uplift you this Christmas season? I’m no movie expert by any means, but “The Blindside” is a great movie loosely based on a true story, and the Jim Carrey version of Christmas Carol is both impressive and spectacular. If you have your mind open to what you can do for others that will improve your own attitude, either one of those movies is going to help you figure out how!