New Year Plans and Preparation

Wow! Just that fast, Christmas has past and now lives in our hearts as a cherished memory. The tree is probably still up, but the excitement and anticipation have came to fruition. I hope your Christmas was wonderful and that the awe of the Greatest Gift will linger in your heart all year long.

As our culture encourages us, we keep moving right along. Next week will be a New Year. Now is the perfect time to reflect back and remember the great times of this year. Of course not all was good, we probably made some mistakes, found some areas we would like to improve, maybe suffered some hard times and need some hope and inspiration. The New Year offers the opportunity to move forward with a renewed vision, a plan to execute some changes, to instill new habits and bring on something better.

As a Christian woman, most of us long to have more of the attributes of Jesus lived out in our life. If you've walked the Christian walk for any length of time, you understand it's not possible to manufacture these characteristics on our own. We want to be more loving, kind, patient etc. But so often life and situations cloud and keep those traits hidden.

So, what do we do? One of our most important New Years plans or resolutions should always be to spend more consistent time in God's Word. It’s not just you getting into the Word; it’s the Word getting into you, and ultimately, what you take in spiritually and meditate on and dwell on becomes a part of you. When you meditate on God’s Word, when they prick you, or when they jar you, or when life’s circumstances annoy you or frustrate you or scare you, what’s going to come out is going to be what you’ve been putting in all along, meditating on. Let's make a plan to put in more good.

It’s not what you get in one day or one month or even one year. It’s what you get day in, day out, precept upon precept, line upon line, through the course of years, but there is always a beginning point and a growing point.

A recent article Quiet time problems and solutions shares the most common hindrances we face in having a consistent time set aside to read, study and pray while offering some fantastic tips and resources. Also, a free reading plan 40 Days of Prayer is a perfect tool to get started.

Let's be encouraged this week to ponder, plan and prepare to make this year our best! Let's put what is important first and rest assured everything else will fall into place.

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