It's New Years again. I know it's artifice, but I still get that fresh clean feeling every January. I try to hold it as long as I can, like the last taste of fresh berries before fall. It's so tempting to overwhelm myself. I want to do it all. I want to journal, carve out writing time every week, get fit, do my makeup, declutter, be organized, read every beautiful thing ever written, not yell at my children, be grateful, savor their childhoods, find a way to serve Jesus that lights me on fire....I want to be the me that I envision, but when I try to do it all, it sucks me under like a wave, and I am right back at the start: trying to earn that which is free. My God is not a performance based God. He loves me when I fumble and loose my balance, when I lean on him and let him be my equilibrium. So, instead of resolution, I have a theme. The overlying thing is Joy, to rejoice in the Lord always, but in this season, the underlying current that steadies me is, "Quality over quantity." I will be realistic. I will not let the desire to do everything paralyze me into doing nothing. While I will take steps to improve, I will not let imperfection sway me into missing my blessings.
This year I will rejoice in having few friends, because they are loyal and beautiful and worth knowing.
I will not fill up with things, I will purchase that which enhances, and not merely accumulates, and I will give where He leads me.
I will try fuel my body likewise.
I will not read 50 books...I will strive to read something great every month, even if that means I only read 12.
The time given to me I will steward, not simply fill.
I will drink in moments. I will give value to what has value, not fill up on emptiness.
I will spend time with the Lord, and not treat him like a thing to be checked off and gotten out of the way.
And when, I invariably fail to do these things. I will talk with my Father, and he will restore me. Any time of the year, He can make things new. May I slow the pace, so that I can make space for His leading. The peace I can not achieve through being better, I can achieve by being content. May His Holy Spirit make it so with me, and also with you. Happy New Year Sweet Sisters. Blessed be.
