It’s been another year of wording, and I am so grateful, first to offer my thoughts and second to have gained your attention here-and-there along the way. Looking back at 2013, I see so many highs and lows, tough spots and smooth stretches. It’s been the usual of life, for sure, although some parts I prefer more so than others, if you know what I mean.
WordPress has a year-end infographic for all the activity filling my patch of sky in 2013—check that out here. I’ve also collected some of my personal post favorites, which are arranged by the categories I keep. Click about and enjoy; if I missed your personal favorite that has graced this patch of sky, feel free to add it to the comments. Thanks for meeting me here. More to come in 2014!
Faith
Is This the Story God Meant to Tell?
Figuring out My Post-India Life
Seventy Times Seven: Punching Fear in the Face
Language
Goofy Challenge 2013: Race 2
My Big Fat Greek Definition of Work
Inviting Change to Our Thanksgiving Holiday
Culture
Which Word Wednesday: Trooper vs. Trouper
Keep Our Grammar from Being a Hot Mess
Which Word Wednesday: Bad vs. Badly
Elsewhere
True Woman: Breathe Courage
True Woman: When Your Vacation Bubble Pops
Christ and Pop Culture: The Unthinkable Reality of Human Trafficking
Each year about this time, I get all excited for the New Year. January 1 is one of my favorite days, marking the start of something new. For me, that newness is related to an assessment of the year that is ending and a vision for the year that is about to begin.
As I look back at 2013, my breath catches. Lots of things happened. Check out this sampler:
celebrated my 40th year at the Goofy Challenge (39.3 miles of running) // started working for Revive Our Hearts // attended The Story conference at Spread Truth & met the shining Laura Karr // traveled to California // attended the Revive Our Hearts Revive Tour // started Snapchatting // enjoyed Beach retreat 2013 // ran the Champaign half marathon // survived a Cupcake Crawl w/niece Isabelle // created a Dream Map // celebrated the Hubster’s work in opening Immanuel Health Clinic // spent two glorious months in Boulder, Colorado & made precious new friends at The Well // started reading Brene Brown // found Lucky’s Bakery & Boxcar Coffee // ran the Boulder Heart & Sole half marathon // ate seven pounds of Swedish fish in a month // celebrated my parents’ 45th anniversary // discovered my personality INFP matches the Hulk (mean & green?) // cheered the Hubster in his first competitive half marathon at Indy (he won the Master’s Divison! we got to see his brother & our dear friends! and we ate Flying Cupcakes!) // traveled to Disney w/dear friends // started working for Naomi’s House // made progress on my book // enjoyed countless hours with loved ones
So much joy, so much blessing—and most of it was not listed as part of my 2013 hopes and dreams. But some of these things came about because my vision was set toward those goals. And this is why I keep on with New Year’s Resolutions.
So I’m on it for 2014, and I’m going with a theme. My dream for the new year is that my life would be fruitful:
By God’s grace, 2014 will be a year of fruitfulness for me as I yield my moments to the Lord Jesus and seek to live by His Spirit.
From this vision flow specific goals that I’ve arranged into seven categories:
spiritual: tending to heart & soul
relational: nurturing bonds
physical: training the flesh
professional: investing talents
mental: stimulating curiosity
domestic: creating a refuge
financial: growing in generosity
One thing I learned this past year is that when my goals are merely a to-do list, I get overwhelmed. This dreamer needs the vision to fuel the actions! For instance, motivation and attitude are greatly lacking when I need to do some cleaning; running it through the filter of creating a refuge makes all the difference for me. I want a refuge, and that would be one with clean sheets.
Most of my goals are typical, not too out-of-the-ordinary . . . but I need them on paper because this dreamy-girl forgets things. If my life is going to be fruitful, I need God’s power working in me and focusing my efforts. There will be lots of praying happening to that end! I’m so excited to see what comes about in the next 12 months—not only what’s on paper, but also all the extra things that I would never dream about.
What are your hopes and dreams for 2014? How do you organize your goals? I’d love to hear all about it—share in the comments or post a link to your blog post detailing it. Here’s to hopes and dreams and things unseen.
I’m still shaping mine up, so I’ve not broken them . . . but I know I will. Come December 31, 2013, I will look back and see all the places my hopes and dreams for the new year got derailed. I participate in the resolution ritual anyhow, knowing that if I aim at nothing, I will hit it every time. Continue Reading…
How grateful I am to have a few days this week to decompress! I get to read, rest, reflect—three of my favorite R-word activities! It seems that 2011 was in short supply of all these, although some changes throughout the year just may be culminating into a fresh New Year. Let me explain.
Last year, I was blessed with too much work. So blessed, in fact, that the first four months consisted of regular all-nighters. Something had to go . . . but what? After much prayer, I decided to remove my editing/proofreading contract with a communications agency. It was one of those sad but good decisions. But it still took me months to feel like I was digging myself out of the hole I had gotten into. The months of irregular sleep, household neglect, and responsibility shirking towered and took its toll.
Let me stress: God has been good to me. He held me steady through my emotional ups-and-downs and has taught me more about who He is and my need for His grace and love and mercy. My life with the Hubster is sweet, more than I could ever have imagined. I have dear friends who know me through and through, who pray for me, cry with me, laugh at me (in love, of course). I have work that is of the pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming nature.
Life is good and sweet. I am grateful. But some stretches are rougher than others, and 2011 was rough in the work-and-responsibility sense. But now that I’ve had some time for the three Rs, I feel mentally ready, able, and excited to meet my life in the days of 2012. I think they call this hope. And hope makes me dreamy! This is why I love the start of something new—a new day, new week, new month, new year. New makes me dream of what could be.
In all this hopes-and-dreams discourse, did any of you think of the Walt Disney Carousel of Progress theme song, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”?!
(Well, that may be a bit too sunshiny. Let’s move on.) Here are my hopes and dreams for the big bright beautiful tomorrows of 2012.
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1. For the Love of God
Fill & Empty is what I’ve been calling my morning check-in with the Lord. Basically, it’s getting more of who Jesus is (His Spirit, His power, His Truth—Him!) in me as I empty my soul in prayer and worship. Each month I plan to take a morning retreat to rest and rejoice in God’s grand rescue of me, a sinner. Both of these (the daily time and the monthly retreat) were spotty during 2011, and I’d like 2012 to be more consistent so that I do not let spiritual drift set in.
2. For the Love of Reading
Reading is a true joy for me, and it was in short supply in 2011. When I had time to sit still to read, I was often too tired to do so. For 2012, I have several reading challenges and goals set. These are, of course, in addition to the other books I am reading . . . :
Bible Reading Challenge: This a challenge of my own making, so we’ll see how it goes! It’s a two-parter. Part 1 is the Daily Drink (reading some Scripture every day). Part 2 is the Sabbath Soak (taking a deeper look at a particular book or passage each Sunday for a month). I’ll write more on this is a separate post in an effort to encourage others to join me.
Classics Challenge: Years ago I started reading some classic literature and decided I would select books according to author’s last name. I’ve read books by Austen, Bronte, Carroll, and Dostoyevsky, crossing off the first five letters of the alphabet. I’ve read other classics covering letters I, L, O, and S. Needless to say, I have plenty more letters to cover. I’d like to read four more in 2012: The Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Scarlet Letter, and The Fountainhead.
3. For the Love of Writing
A positive for 2011 is that my work shifted primarily to writing projects. Most of my time is spent writing, rewriting, and thinking about writing. [joy!] I started a weekly column called Mixed Signals for Christ and Pop Culture, which has stretched me in many good and painful ways. Which Word Wednesday is still going strong right here at The Patch. But generally speaking, my blog was neglected in 2011. In the year ahead, I would like to spend more writing time here and possibly give the site a facelift.
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So that does it! Three resolution-like visions for 2012.
What sorts of resolutions are you making for the year ahead? I’d love to hear all about it! And watch for more information about my Bible Reading Challenge—I’d love to have your company.
How happy to know that I’m not the only one yet mulling over 2008 resolutions! My blog stats show that readers are still frequenting these topics (see this one) and even continuing to search for them through tags.
Well, I’m still thinking of resolutions too! It’s only Day 15 of 2008 . . . and I certainly hope our attention spans are longer than a mere 15 days. I trust they are, so here’s one more musing about setting the heart and mind for action and discipline in the new year ahead.
On a previous post I mentioned the use of just one overarching resolution from which all others might flow. Implementing the 80/20 rule of restraint for reasoned-living not only makes sense, it places the responsibility in my hands and heart—it’s a progression rather than perfection, and I must decide to do what is most healthy for me and what is most glorifying to God (these happen to be the same thing!). For instance, yielding to temptation whenever it calls—whether that be food, laziness, and the like—ever weakens resolve and self-restraint. Long-term indulgence is poison to inner strength. Now I am seeing snacks and lounging as treats (rather than deserved perks for living my life); I’m looking ahead to those good things already on the calendar and setting my focus there, making it easier to make good choices in the moment.
This seems to differ from resolutions of mine from previous years, in which the goal is something a bit more surfacey (wanting to be ready for warm-weather clothing or a vacation, for example). The 80/20 sole resolution has at its root a heart issue: it’s the resolve to develop self-discipline and a mature mindset that is able to choose that which is most pleasing to God.
Maybe you have read the 70 resolutions of Jonathan Edwards that he adhered to as an ongoing practice—now these are resolutions worth keeping and renewing! How I would love to work toward a heart that produces resolves like that! The one I continue to ponder is:
25. Resolved, To examine carefully and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and so direct all my forces against it.
This, along with my general 80/20 rule, would be a great focus for me in 2008. For when I doubt the love of God, I make bad choices and my heart wavers in trust toward Him. When I trust God’s love and care and provision, I can rise above the crisis of the moment and make choices that align with truth. Oswald Chambers said this:
“Launch out in reckless, unrestrained belief that the redemption is complete.”
I love that! When I am trusting God’s hand to be sovereign over all and His Word to be true in regard to me, then I can launch out, reckless and free to truly live a life worth living. That’s what I want for 2008.
Ah, the new year. It’s that time when everyone is assessing the progress of 2007 and dreaming of perfection for 2008. And that leads us to New Year’s resolutions. These little phrases offer commitments and promises that will somehow make this year different from the last.
Personally, I love resolutions. Something about them rings of hope and determination—and because I love transformation of all sorts, resolutions have always been of interest to me. They seem to be little seeds containing newness of life just waiting to burst forth.
And I can resolve with the best of them. I can make glitzy charts and write inspirational goals. But that doesn’t make me any more apt to achieve them. I’m much better at thinking and dreaming than acting and doing. But each year, and sometimes even every few months, I come back to what I had hoped for the days ahead and try to refocus on the goal.
I am also so blessed to have dear friends to talk such things out with. We discuss what is and what could be and how we might get there. Always we yearn to lean harder upon God and see His strength come forth to bring about the change we long for.
Such a conversation happened a few years back. Two friends and I were discussing goals and progress over some ice cream (I’m sure we discussed health and fitness goals as we happily ate our frozen treats). One of these dear gals was eating and talking and happened to pause for a bite at just the moment when her phrase seemed it could be complete—at that point, at that pause, it formed some sort of odd confession:
“I have always had big as . . . s . . .”
[This is when slow motion in real time occurred. Her pause seemed so lengthy that it gave me time to process her comment and wonder and question why she would so harshly, so openly berate herself. What I thought she was saying didn’t click with her character, or her manner of speech, which is never improper or crass—nor did this comment align with her physical appearance. All around, this comment was as strange as it could be. Confusion washed over me because I couldn’t imagine such a comment coming from her. I quickly looked to my other friend and found the same baffled expression—our eyes met, questioning, Did she just say what we think she said? We soon discovered that no, she did not, as the remainder of her thought came forth.]
“. . . pirations and then something derails me.”
She said she always had big aspirations. Her pause, unbeknownst to her, had delivered an alternate, unintended message—much to our amusement. My listening friend and I burst into uncontainable laughter, not only at our mishearing but also at the thought that our friend would ever speak so brashly. We did our best to explain what we thought we heard, but it was rather lost—my confessing friend knew what she was trying to say, and she knew she was not attempting to profess a large posterior.
This event happened years ago, but just the mention of having “big aspirations” is enough to send us into fits of laughter. My confessing friend is kind enough to keep talking to us.
The truth of it is that the new year surfaces the big aspirations in all of us. The new year feels crisp and new and clean, like a change of bed sheets or a new journal. It feels like the days stretch out before us empty and free. I think the possibilities of what might be provide so much inspiration! What if we dreamed big and set our minds and hearts to action? What could change? What growth could come forth?
Like I said, I am blessed with wonderful kindred-spirit friends, with which I get to hash out such things with. I like to do that not only because the input of others sets my gaze a bit higher and calls me to strive harder, but also because I like to hear what is whispering the hearts of others. And I like to hear what other people are striving for, to see if I would like to add that to my list.
So what are your big aspirations, fellow bloggers?
What fun it would be to compare and encourage and motivate and inspire. I have more to say on inspirational resolutions, but I’ll save that for another day. So check back soon.
It’s Day 2 of 2013.
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