This is the time of year for making (and hopefully keeping) New Year’s Resolutions. The time of year when we put pen to paper and make a list of all the things we need to change–all the things we need to stop doing or all the things we need to start doing–to have the life we’ve always dreamed about. Several of my friends have posted about their New Year’s Resolutions. Some lists are pretty ambitious, while others are much more practical. Some people couldn’t get past the title on their list. The lovely heading of “Looking Ahead to 2020” scrawled in calligraphy at the top of that blank page was all they had to show for hours of work.
What’s the hold up? Well, how do you know where to start? How do you make goals that are achievable, that are measurable, and that are attainable?
I start with a word–the theme for my year. I spend some time in prayer with God asking Him to give me vision for the coming year and for where He wants to take me. It might take several days of prayer before a word pops into my head, but once it’s there it doesn’t leave. I take that word as my vision for the coming year. This year’s word is: Flourish.
Flourish. The picture that came to mind when I received this word was an explosive amount of growth and harvest. It was a rich time of abundance after a year of a lot of hard work. A year that felt more like winter than the normal four seasons of our life. Flourish. I liked the picture painted in my head by that word. I like the promise of abundance that it holds. I am long over the feelings that come with a year of deep pruning and planting during times of struggle and trial.
So I took my word and I made some goals that I thought would help me accomplish it. I looked to my spiritual life and asked, “What will help me flourish in my relationship with God?” Things like Bible study, of course, and church attendance, but also bucket list items like conferences I wanted to go to that I couldn’t afford to go to in the past or giving in amounts that I would never have conceived of before. I wrote them down. They are bars to reach for in the coming year. Some are easily achievable. I’ve already made a good habit of reading my Bible, so I should easily be able to keep up on that goal. Others were pie-in-the-sky dreams that I may not see fulfilled this year. But that’s okay, too. We serve a big God who specializes in achieving impossible things! The Bible promises us that God is able to do “exceedingly above all that we ask or think”. The Amplified Bible says He does “superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think–infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams.”
God wants us to dream big. He wants us to ask Him for impossible things! Why? Because it shows that we trust Him. We trust Him to be big enough. We have faith in His ability to do more than we could ever do on our own. He does this through His power which is at work in us. Think of it! The same power that brought Jesus back from the dead is at work on the inside of us. That kind of power can do impossible things.
Now, I’m not saying God will do anything or everything that we ask. He isn’t a magic genie in a bottle, after all. But I am saying that God gives us the freedom to dream big. He wants us to have big goals in our lives. He wants to use us to do impossible looking things that further His kingdom and His plans that are at work in the world around us. The truth is that God uses people–ordinary, everyday, run of the mill, sometimes broken people–to do the things He wants to do in the world.
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty ordinary, and I’m definitely broken. But with God all things are possible. I can do all things through Christ who empowers me. I can reach big goals for the kingdom of God if I’m willing to humble myself before Him and allow His power to flow through me into the world around me. And that thought gives me hope. It lets me make that list of New Year’s resolutions, and it empowers me to work hard to keep them. In the hope that I can be used mightily of God, and in the hope that I will grow in my relationship with Him and in my likeness to His son, Jesus Christ.
I didn’t stop at just my spiritual life, though. I also looked at things for my physical well-being, educational goals, and social goals that could help me live out that word–flourish–in my life this coming year. Some of these goals were pretty vague, like my goal for “weight loss.” I learned a long time ago that making a hard, fast expectation in this department leads only to discouragement. So now I just list weight loss, and I count is as a goal achieved if I manage to end the year even 1 lb lighter than I started it. Some of these goals are pretty concrete, like my goal to finish a list of 20 homemaking items using various homemaking skills. But all of these goals will give me something to look back on at the end of the year and will bring more joy and more fulfillment to my life. They will all, in some way, help me to flourish.
So what’s God word for you in this coming year? What will bring your life more joy and more fulfillment? What are the goals you have set for yourself? Are they all attainable? Are they all pie-in the sky? Are they a good mix of the two?
A Beautiful Mess 