Thoughtful intentions for the New Year

Your New Year’s Resolution?? hmmm...

It was 4.30 yesterday morning as I was driving Danny to the airport - how I hated to see him go back to Boston! 'So, Mom - any resolutions for the New Year?' he asked. As I type just now, that ride

>before the dawning of the morning and

>the wide open roads were kind of a metaphor for this briefing.

A New Year means great opportunities for personal growth, a sort of clean slate. So as we launch into the waters of 2025, may I ask you a bigger picture question, -->>What do you think God would envision for your personal growth in 2025?Personal growth? yes - how might you discipline yourself for optimal health, physically and spiritually? 

Purposing to consume a healthy diet, exercise vigorously, and rest well are all parts of physical training; doing these things honors the God who created us, gave us life and sustains us daily with his breath.

Ever challenged by my beloved apostle Paul’s simplistic life view:  “For to me, living means living for Christ.”¹   As this New Year dawns, perhaps like Paul, you will narrow your focus and choose a life that matters … a life filled with meaning, living for Christ!

Paul's challenge: 'Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ'² … 'Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.' (Like the Corinthians to whom he was writing, Paul was very familiar with the Olympian games, including foot races where the prize was a wreath of leaves) 'So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.'³ I really love these last three sentences! 

I grew up with a dad who looked at discipline as punishment; it was not until I was in my early forties and began studying the spiritual disciplines that I grew to love the word 'discipline.' Then I began to see that personal discipline frees you and me to become who we were meant to be, and that the very best!

So besides some discipline for physical growth, how might you go about spiritual growth? Also takes training; I should like to highlight four areas.

>Read and study Scripture, like these Morning Briefings--Get to know your Maker and his plans for you. [These writings can be used over two days--read/listen the first day; look up scripture references contained the second day. Look to apply them to your life. In short order we will be back in the gospel of Luke.]

I am also proposing a Through the Bible in a Year plan; last year, I read; this year, join me as I listen, using The One Year Chronological Bible, NLT, (audio), by Tyndale.

>Pray - talk to your Father like you do a friend; seek his wisdom and direction daily--do it in the morning; it sets the tone for your day. The psalmist wrote, “Commit your way to the Lord.  Trust in him, and he will do it.⁴

>Do you worship God?  Oh, how he loves that!  While worship includes keeping the Sabbath and meeting together with others in a set-apart place to lift up the name of God, it is not limited to that.  We are meant to live each day with a thought toward doing all to the glory of God. [Sometimes I ask myself 'what is the next right thing God would have me do?]

>Serve God by serving others, give of yourself to others.  Where/who are you serving, Friend?  ‘But, but … my life is so messed up, I am going through such trials,’ you say.  That, my dear friend, is all the more reason to find some place, someone else to serve, so as to honor God, get your mind off yourself, and frankly, live with perspective.

Would you like to grow in any of these areas this year? How so? _________________________________________________________

You must be intentional, and make a plan, to M A K E it HAPPEN … What is your plan to make it happen?_______________________________________

‘Without a vision, the people perish,’ Proverbs says, so live your life on purpose, with vision.   Do some thinking and praying, and then determine how you want to finish this new year of life you have been given.  EnVISION yourself crossing the finish line of 2025, with your chest pressed out, breaking the tape . . . what several things will you implement on the new day? Now, it is kind of exciting, isn't it?

THIS UPBEAT SONG is great! "I Surrender" song by Tasha Cobbs Leonard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnZnxrVoKnI

Let's bust a move, and grow!  

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1     Philippians 1.21

2    1 Corinthians 11.1

3    1 Corinthians 9.24ff

4    Psalm 37.5