It’s a new year, and so, I feel compelled to do all the things. I’ve seen probably a half dozen courses/groups/challenges for the new year, and I want to be in with all of them. I have lofty ambitions and ideals for the life that I believe that I could craft if I were only organized and disciplined enough. But I do not live in a vacuum. Sometimes it is not a failure of organization or discipline but a result of the environment. My expectations too often are set on perfect when I live in an imperfect, sinful world. So, I’ve narrowed the groups I’m participating in to one. I’ve resisted the urge to download many, many checklists and challenges. I’ve joked to my family that my word for the year should be “no” because with two little boys, that’s a word that I can see myself sticking with for the long term. But no is also for me. It’s a word to use when we have too many activities in a week. It’s a word for when I’m tired and want to be discouraged but I need to do the next thing. It’s a word for when we do need to stop activity and just rest. It’s a word for stopping the onslaught of the urgent. It’s a word for myself when I’m tempted to let spiritual and physical disciplines slide. It’s a word for when I’d rather just sit on my phone than pray and work.
But words and groups and resolutions and goals and wishes while sometimes good and powerful right now are really nothing in eternity. Unless the Lord builds the house those who build it labor in vain (Psalm 127:1a). I have a lot of things I want to do and be and build and accomplish this year, and I pray that they are in line with what God is building. But if they are not, I pray that they would all go by the wayside in order to build that which He has planned. Praying that 2017 would be a year that honors God and brings Him glory in my life and the lives of my family. Even if it doesn’t look organized while we do it.
