A New Year

A new year . . . it seems like this is a time of year when people are more reflective than usual.

The time when they look back on what the year that's ending has been.

The time when people make resolutions or goals for the next year.

But, how long do many of those resolutions and goals last?

It seems like so often, all those good intentions we had have long left by February, or even before the end of January.

So, is it worth it to even do so?

Are those reflections and those resolutions worth the time we take to think about them?

There is value in taking the time to reflect, to pay attention to what God has done in our lives in the last year. We need to remember and make note of the ways God has showed up for us. When things get hard in our lives and we're wondering where God is, it's those memories of times when He showed up in the past that give us courage to keep going.

I also think there is value in looking ahead to the new year. Thinking about what God might want to lead you into. We may not know exactly what God has planned for us in the new year, but we can still take the time to pray about what God has planned, and to surrender, again to His will for our lives.

The Story we Write

It's that time of year when many people seem to get a bit a reflective. Looking back at the year that's drawing to a close, and then looking forward to the year that is to come. The turning of the calendar page to a new year prompts that.

It always prompts a couple of key questions for me:

• What kind of a story did I write with my life in 2016?
• What kind of a story do I want to write with my life in 2017?

Obviously, we can't control some of the events that have happened or will happen. We can't control things other people say or do. There's so much that we can't control.

But, we do have one thing we can control, and that is where we determine the story we write with our lives. We can choose how we respond. We can choose what we do with what happens and what we do with what other people say or do.

Our choices are the story we write with our lives. Our choices are the ways we will be remembered by those around us.

When life has knocked us down  - whether an event or something someone else does or says - we have a choice. We can choose to stay face-down and refuse to get up. Or we choose to do the hard work of getting back up - of learning from what has happened and why we reacted the way we did, so we can grow from it and hopefully respond differently the next time.

So, as 2016 comes to a close and we turn the calendar page to 2017, these questions might be good ones to reflect on it:

What kind of a story did I write with my life in 2016?

What kind of a story do I want to write with my life in 2017?

Are New Year's Resolutions the Way to Go?

New Year's Resolutions . . .

Do you make them?

Should you make them?

I've been thinking about the whole idea of new year's resolutions the last couple of weeks. It's that time of year when we look forward to another year and often feel a need to set some goals - to make some resolutions for the new year.

They seem like a good idea at the start of the year. And then we get to February and we haven't kept most of them. We've broken them and it's easy to feel discouraged.

A couple years ago, I wrote a post about how to keep your new year's resolutions. I don't disagree with anything I wrote in that post, but now I wonder if setting new year's resolutions is really the way we should be going.

In the two years since I wrote that post, I've seen things in my life take a very different turn from what I had planned in January. Things have gone in a direction I couldn't have imagined at the start of the year - a better direction that was definitely from God. Seeing that makes me wonder if new year's resolutions are really the best way to go. 

What if, in making them, we put ourselves in a box and take a chance of missing out on what God has for us because we're focused on what we think should happen?

What if, instead of making new year's resolutions, we began the year with seeking God? With asking Him what He has in store for us and surrendering our will and ideas to His plans?

What if we decided we would follow God's leading wherever it takes us - even if it's not what we would have planned?

Instead of setting a plan in place that we may or may not keep to a small or large degree of success, what if we were intentional about surrendering the year to God as it begins?

What Kind of Book are you Writing for your Life in 2014?

When I got on Facebook this morning, I saw this picture that a friend had shared. I started thinking about it.

Seeing as today is New Year's Eve - the last day of 2013. Tomorrow is a new year. And for many of us we see it as an opportunity to start a fresh. That turning of the calendar page to a new year often signals a new start in our lives.

The challenge of this picture to write a good one when we start the new book of our lives for the new year . . . it sort of seems impossible to choose to do that - to choose to write a good one. Yet, it's also what I and most other people I talk to want for the new year.

 The challenge is that we don't have complete control over everything that happens to us. We will have good and hard things that happen to us and to the people we love in our lives that we can't control. So, does that mean it's impossible to write the book of our lives for 2014 a good one?

But, even though we can't control events that happen, we can still choose how we respond to those events. Whether things are good or hard that happen, we can make the choice of our response to them. That's where we have the control to write a good one when it comes to our book for 2014.

So, what kind of book are you going to write for the year 2014 in your life? What choice will you make in how you respond to the things that happen that are out of your control?