Everybody makes New Year’s resolutions:  lose weight, gain muscle, write books, read books, get a degree, get a raise, and so on infinitum. All of that is great, but I want to give you a completely different starting point for 2016:  get your finances in order.   Do you realize how much of your life will change when you start emerging out from under that pile of bills, credit card balances, and STRESS?

As I start a new year, here are the three primary focuses I renew:

Negative pessimism is a hard monkey to get off your back.  It colors everything dull and bland.  It stifles creativity, ruins relationships, and makes everything hopeless.  You lose sight of all that you “have and are” for what you “want and are not.”

The other morning I took a one mile walk in the beautiful crisp, fall air with Melanie.  When I got back home I noticed the nice truck I drive, the beautiful home I live in, and the wonderful amenities I am surrounded by (like dishwashers).  Over the course of the day,  it was as if I was continually overwhelmed by HOW MANY blessings I have in my life. 

I would like to list a few, for your sake and for mine:

Everyone wants to know how to multiply their business, their finances, and their influence. Jesus showed us the secret by having the crowd of people sit down in groups of 50 before He multiplied the bread. Order precedes multiplication.

I have observed that multiplication is wishful thinking for most leaders. They forget that God is “not the author of confusion” and that everything should be done “decently and in order.”

With that fact in mind, here are some areas that I try to be sure I keep in order: