Waking Up in 2026: Seeds, Faith, and Muscle!
As you quietly read this at the turn of the New Year, I’m sure you have reflected on the joys, successes, and trials of 2025. Like every year before it, each day came and went, leaving behind memories. You spent an entire year believing that there was a better tomorrow and you made decisions of FAITH that later yielded results.
Every morning, you chose to get up and start your day. You fed yourself and perhaps even exercised to nourish and strengthen your body. You decided to go to work. You spoke to people to inspire, instruct, and lead them. You served and helped others. You consciously decided to love someone. In short, you invested in today because you believed in a better tomorrow. Why else would you have done these things?
On this first day of the New Year, we renew our FAITH in action! Simply put, we patiently invest in something and quietly trust the process as it unfolds. Think about planting seeds in soil. There is no immediate evidence of life. What follows is waiting — days, weeks, months — with nothing on the surface to prove that growth is happening. Still, you water, tend, and protect the ground, believing that something unseen is taking root and will yield fruit.
Some investment requires great FAITH. From planting to full fruiting, lettuce and radishes take 1-2 months; corn takes up to 4 months; and fruit trees from 2-5 years. In the same way, you have chosen to give instead of withholding, to serve instead of remaining in comfort, and to hope rather than despairing. You look beyond the visible. Your FAITH is a conviction that your investment in others will yield a harvest.
It looks like resilience in the presence of doubt. Even when the path forward is unclear or the finish line is out of sight, you trust that your efforts are bringing you, your family, and your team one step closer to the goal. You hold conviction over proof. You invest though the return is yet to be seen. Did this describe your mindset in 2025? Do you need to grow your FAITH muscle in 2026?
FAITH in action is not about perfection. It is about growing discipline, compassion, and courage. In this New Year, trust the process and stay faithful to it. People and places need your investment and conviction, your planning and diligent effort, your mentorship and encouragement. Where are your faithful planting and watering needed most? Each act becomes one of FAITH, trusting that there is a greater good yet to come!
Teams are more effective than solo performances. Partnerships produce greater productivity. One proverb says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). Multiple minds and hands that work together achieve more.
A second advantage is that teams have greater insight. No one has a corner market on wisdom; each person sees each issue from a different and fresh perspective. As team members contribute, the potential of a superior outcome multiplies. “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). For greater likelihood of success on the battlefield and in the boardroom, multiple individuals should contribute and be encouraged to give input.