FRESH STARTS, CLEAN BREAKS I've pulled my winter boots out of the closet and invested in a stash of warm leggings and cozy sweaters for the approaching long haul of winter. The holiday festivities with friends and family have slowed to a normal pace. The Christmas decorations have been taken down and stored in the basement for next year's joyous season. Currently, there are no traces of pine tree needles on my freshly swept floor and signs of spring are evident in my now bare house for one.
It's January.
You can almost smell the untouched new year. Faint fragrances of lemon mingled with PineSol waif through the air from my now clean house. Fresh starts, clean breaks. The excitement of a new chapter in life just waiting to be written is enough to make one ignore the frigid temperatures just outside my window.
A fresh start. I let that thought sink in as a smile emerges across my face. A new chapter in my life starts now. What am I going to do with the time I've been given?
ALIGN THE VISION: ONE WORD I realize it's important to remain grounded in my new year objectives, so I come up with a plan: I decide to align my vision to one word to summarize my intentions for the upcoming year. In processing my next steps, I find my mind wandering to goals created in years past. The discovery? I realized the majority of my goals rotated around me: get stronger, run faster, find community, be more intentional. The list continued. I was the protagonist of my story.
Who's the protagonist of your story?
THE QUESTION As a daughter of the King, I desire to live my life to the full. Constantly processing my walk and reflecting over my days, the question lingered: What can I do this year to better myself as His daughter? I felt a nudge from the Holy Spirit as I considered the answer. Perhaps I needed to change the question. What can I do for others to show I am His daughter? The change of perspective baffled me. Why didn't I think of this before?
If it is one thing I've learned through this novel I'm daily writing is that each character goes through several seasons. Sure, in my short life I've seen His handiwork through seasons of growth, seasons of rest, seasons of grief, seasons of giving. There were times in my life I couldn't even think about helping others because I couldn't even see past myself. I wasn't ready. I didn't have the skills needed to defend myself, let alone another wandering soul. What if those times of rest or growth or becoming a warrior for Jesus were to train me for a new season? THIS SEASON -- a season of serving.
Those who refresh others will also be refreshed. - Proverbs 11:25
My mind was hastily processing this flipped new perspective.
How could I not make my yearly goal about myself?
What if I'm not ready? What if I'm not yet the warrior I need to be?
What if I missed a crucial needed skill set?
My repeating questions were quieted by a voice I knew wasn't my own.
I'll teach you while you serve others.
THE PLAN This year I choose a single word that helps removes my mindset from myself and re-focuses my vision onto His kingdom: serve. Do I know what this looks like yet? Nope, no idea. I'm a novice in this battlefield. However, I am wise enough to see that those critical skills gained from previous training sessions were to prepare me for this new chapter that He is now writing.
Excited yet nervous to embark on an uncharted adventure, I feel my Father calming my spirit.
The journey is just beginning, daughter. Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for ME.
PROMISES TO PONDER Proverbs 11:25 - Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. Galatians 5:13 - Serve one another humbly in love. Matthew 25:40 - Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
NEXT STEPS If you could focus your intentions into one word, what would it be?
Perhaps you are like me and want to focus this year on serving others. If so, try saying YES to everything that comes across your path. No really! Someone calls to ask you to meet for dinner? Say yes. Is your church doing a month long Bible study? Did your child's daycare director just ask you to make cookies for tomorrow? Run across a new organization that needs volunteers? SAY YES. Just try it. Know your boundaries and your schedule, but look for ways that God reveals a need by bringing something across your path. Looking for a way to serve but no doors have opened? Look for your city's list of charitable organizations. Find one or two and jump in. If you're in Cincinnati, check out a few suggestions here. CHARACTER OF GOD God promised that when you refresh others - serve them, help them, pitch in, think of them before yourself - you, in turn, are refreshed (rejuvenated, restored, revived). Perhaps just getting your perspective off of yourself will draw you closer to your Savior's arms. It may be even easier to hear His voice as you seek to serve Him. Don't listen to your insecurities! God is faithful. He rewards the steps His children take in obedience to Him.
Father, thanks for a brand new year. Thank you for the chance to start over, to start fresh. Whatever happened last year, I leave it in the past - my failures, my successes, my fears. Take it. I want to walk boldly ahead and live to the full in 2018. Bless me with courage - to be a warrior and light to those I will meet this year. Help me to focus my intentions on You and be wise enough to hear Your voice in the days ahead. Thanks for your love and new beginnings. In Jesus' name, AMEN.
