Happy New Year!
This is the time of year when I like to look back over the past year to mourn, celebrate, and praise God for His abundant mercy before turning my face to the year to come.
This year, I thought I’d take the format of our FREE resource 2018 New Year’s Resolutions for Kids and turn it into a blog with my own answers.
My favorite part of 2017
It’s hard to pick a favorite as so much has happened this year. We got to visit family, attend conferences, and I started a second master’s degree. I’m thankful for all of those things, but I think my favorite part was attending my oldest niece’s high school graduation. She worked hard after moving from France to Houston, TX, just before her freshman year of high school. Four years, several tutors, sports, music lessons, and “American high school experiences” later, she’s now graduated and attending college. We’re so proud of her! Thank you, God, for my precious family and for helping the children through transitions and school.
Please help me do better this year.
Here’s where we get real. Heavenly Father, last year I had trouble with perseverance and balance. I struggle with thinking everything is up to me. I act like it is all on my shoulders. That makes me feel like a complete failure when things don’t work or go according to plan. That attitude is a sin. It’s not my place to make everything work. It is my place to do what the Lord has set before me this day and to rest in Him.
I need to remind myself of a few things I’ve been learning. Please bear with me.
In the Jewish/Hebrew mindset, the day begins at sundown. That means the day begins with us sleeping, resting, not doing anything. It is a reminder that God is at work, even when we are not. We are limited by time and our physical bodies. We cannot do everything. We are not God. We are privileged to be invited to participate in His work, but it is not all about us.
I tend to push myself beyond my physical limits in an attempt to do it all. That is not the way God designed humans to function. We are designed to need periods of rest. These rest times are not only to help us physically, spiritually, and emotionally, but also to remind us that God is in control.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.“
Genesis 2:1-3 (NIV)
“27 Then he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.'”
Mark 2:27-28 (NIV)
Lord, please help me to better remember this year that God can do all things, not me. Teach me to balance my responsibilities and desires with the way You made me to be. Teach me to rest in You.
This year I would like to…
Lord, this year I would like to create a healthier rhythm for life. My plan for how to do it is:
- Acknowledge that each week is different. Instead of a regular weekly routine, create five weekly routines, one for each week of the month.
- Develop (fairly) consistent routines for beginning the day, after lunch, after supper, and bedtime.
- Prioritize regular times of rest.
- Prioritize exercise and healthy eating habits.
- Plan ahead as much as possible to make following this healthier rhythm easier to follow.
- Evaluate my regular routines regularly.
Lord, please show me who can help me and if my plan needs to change. Amen.
