Go!

So perhaps I decided to take a couple days off and start the new year up when I returned to work. Perhaps! :)

It's here though, this brand new year. It's four days old and I'm already loving so many moments and also already wondering at various things that God is showing me and working on in me. Oddly enough, exactly the same things that were going on a week ago!

I do have some thoughts about what I hope this year will hold though, thoughts that I'm willing to put out here for my two readers to know! :) Some might call these goals or resolutions but I look at them more as areas of focus, things that I want to purposefully draw my attention towards in the days to come. None of these is some new, lofty pursuit but rather things that God has been working on in me for months, sometimes years already!

First, I want to work on being faithful in all of the things that God has placed in my life today. In relationships and jobs, in stewardship and time management, in all of the areas of my life where I've at times become lazy and inattentive. I want to live out Luke 16:10, which I am taking somewhat out of context but which I believe is applicable for all areas of life. It says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." I want to reflect faithfulness in the smallest of areas so that I might be further refined for whatever God needs of me in the future. It is one of my desires for this year.

Second, I want to practice compassion towards all. I want my actions and attitude to be one of love towards all I encounter, not just the lovely or those who are dear to me. I want to be thoughtful of the way that I bear His light in this world and seek to live outside myself much more often.

Third, I desire that prayer would become an area of focus in my days. I have found myself guilty of not allotting much time to the spiritual disciplines and I desire for my life to be defined by my time with the Lord pursuing Him in prayer, study, fasting, and other disciplines. Prayer particularly is an area that I want to grow more diligent in but each of these disciplines deserves more of my time and effort so that God might show me His character and change me to better resemble it.

Fourth, I want to purposefully cultivate my artistic abilities and my imagination by spending time taking pictures, reading, pulling out my instruments, writing and other such things. I want to aim for depth in my thoughts and writings and I want to allow God to develop big dreams for my life and my days.

Fifth, I want to be very purposeful towards relationships in my life. I want to be intentional, diligent, and willing to invest my time and energy into those around me. I have become ever so aware that this life is not about me and that if I choose to live in solidarity I will one day have no one to turn to when I am in need of encouragement or help. Friendships are a huge blessing given by the Lord and I want to especially be faithful with those He has given.

Sixth, and probably the one I like the least, is that I want to practice living a life of risk. Not in stupid ways or dangerous ways but rather embracing the idea of learning to let go and allow control to be beyond my grasp in order to learn a greater dependence on the Lord. I don't like not being safe and even though I've grown in this in a lot of ways over the past couple of years, it is still something that I struggle with. I like things to be defined and calculated and safe and while I experience dependence on God, I feel as though I limit His capability to move in my life as I continue to hold on to what feels comfortable. In my head I know that risk is important to life but when it comes down to action, I am not always able to let go of the line and fall into His arms completely. I desire growth in this area even though the acknowledgment of the desire opens me up to the reality of having to truly embrace it and go in places that are hard.

These are six areas that I know I want to continue to focus on in the coming months and now seems like as good of a time as any to identify them and write about them. I'm certain that you'll see these concepts revisited in the days to come and I'd love for you to challenge me and call me out if you see that I'm falling short in these (or really any other area).

I also want to take just a moment to push you. Take some time and identify where you sense God challenging you and calling you to bigger things. Sit down and think about your life, look at those areas and see what you might be able to focus on in the months to come. In all reality, January 1st is just another day but sometimes it's good to sit down and seek out what God might be doing in your life that needs a bit more of your attention.

Finally, in closing what is a really long post here, I want you to know that this is my prayer for you this year:

But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!
~Jude 1:20-21

May we gather next year and recount what God has done in our lives as we passionately pursue Him and His heart and allow Him to daily refine us to be better bearers of His name!

Go in peace into 2010 and may God rule your every moment!