How to make the most of 2025

The start of a new year might be an opportunity to try something new. Let's spend time this year to GROW and GO.

Heart: As you reflect on the year that’s been, you may have a couple of different thoughts. One might be that you’re proud of how far you’ve come, and you want to keep your daily habits strong. On the other hand, you might feel disappointed and a little disillusioned on the year that’s been, because you were hoping for more fruit. In today’s Grow and Go newsletter, I want to encourage you: This year is another opportunity to do your best, strengthen your faith in God, and make a difference in the world.

Soul: “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” – Luke 5:1-6

Mind: What does it look like, in 2025, to throw your net on the other side of the boat? What could look different this year? Remember the old saying, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” If you desire new results, you’re going to have to change it up a bit.

Strength: Give yourself permission to try and fail. Maybe you’re sore after that bit of exercise, or disappointed in what you ate the other day. I say, get up again and keep going. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the best habits are not developed over night. Try again. Maybe you’ll fail again too, but keep going. Keep trying.

Others: I’ve been reading through some of Alan Kohler’s book (2024), “The Great Divide”, which speaks of Australia’s housing crisis, that has grown progressively worse over the years. He says, that, “the price of a house has gone from three to four times income to seven to eight times [our annual] income in the course of a generation.” Effectively, owning a house is getting tougher as the years go on, in Australia (though I don’t think it’s much different in other OECD countries). Housing affordability deeply affects the low to middle class of our society; whether we are renting, trying to buy a home, or trying to move up from a caravan park to more adequate housing. Having a secure roof over our head is a human right, and someone should tell the rich real estate gurus to cut the rest of us some slack.  

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What will it look like for you to make the most of 2025?