In Looking Back, In Being Mindful, In Looking Forward

First of all, I am going to pause my posts on the Works of God because have a lot I want to post this week to tie up our year.  I do plan to pick them back up next week because I am learning so much and I don't want to forget any of it.  This blog will one day be a snap-shot of sorts for my girls, a wordy-scrapbook that will provide them with small, minute snapshots of what our lives looked like when they were ten, twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen etc;  

So this week I want to look back.  

I want to write some posts that capture what I read and how the words helped shape my heart, what we watched and how it shaped our connections, what we learned and how it stretched us and grew us, and finally what we said goodbye to and how that has changed us.

I want to be mindful.

And I don't mean in the meditative sense that has become so popular, I mean I want to write a post that literally takes stock of who I am as this year draws to a close and another one is on the cusp of dawning.  I want to still for a moment, quiet myself, and try to somehow give words to how I fill the space and time that God has given me for today.

I want to look forward.

I want to list my habit goals for the year, what I am striving for, and why.  What I hope to read this year, what I hope to watch and listen to, what I hope to learn, and how I hope to grow in 2021.  

Truthfully, I am a bit (ok, maybe more than a bit???) nervous about the new year.  I can't help but think back to this week last year when I was discouraged with a lackluster 2019.  For me, 2019 was a year that held almost NO growth at all, very little forward movement across the board, and so I was really excited about 2020.  I sat almost in the exact same spot I am in this morning, typed on this exact same old laptop, and let my heart dwell on all of the possibilities this new year could bring.  I was, as we always are, so VERY clueless about what all this year would entail  For the world, for my state, city, and community, but most of all for my family.  So, in my angst, I am leaning into the Word, leaning into what I am learning about holiness.  God is holy, holy, holy.  And that needs to drastically alter how I approach everything, how I see and process everything.  And He asks of me, requires from me, personal holiness.  And that needs to drastically alter how I approach this new year. 

Finally, two resources, ok three, that I would recommend as you prepare to lay one year down, and take another one up - Grace Goals by Arabah Joy, RC Sproul's lectures on Holiness (I am not overly-familiar with Ligonier Ministries, other than to know that it says you can watch this series for free right now.  I know they offered a lot of their content for free this year due to covid - but if that changes, or if these specific lectures are not freely accessible when you click on the link, look them up on you-tube - they are there too), and finally, JC Ryle's book  Holiness: For the Will of God is Your Sanctification (this is free on kindle).