Happy New Year? I don’t know if I feel happy about it. Yes, I love the idea of a fresh start but I also mourn the fact that the magic of the Holidays is over. I love Christmas, but even more, as I’m sure so many other busy moms do, I love a BREAK! I so look forward to having a couple weeks off to regroup and rest. But when it goes by in a blink of an eye and I didn’t get to do HALF of the things I had hoped or dreamed about doing, it just seems a little depressing. And most years that puts me into a bit of a funk when it is all over. This year has been a little different and I think I can point to why. My focus is different. It’s not perfect. I’m still struggling, but I am grabbing a hold of it before it gets away from me. I am not looking back and dwelling on what WASN’T, but I am looking at where God has me right now. I am making a conscious effort to look at each day according to the Spirit. This means that I have to continually quash the desire to live according to my sinful nature, my selfish one. The one that wants to do things half way because to do it ALL and to do it WELL seems overwhelming.
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires;
but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Romans 8:5
So the more I live in accordance with the Spirit, the more my soul is at peace. I am no longer striving to complete my endless to-do list but I am striving to accomplish what God has for me to do in that moment only. As we trust and follow His leading, step by step, the rest will come.
If I had it my way, I would have posted here about a week ago. But I had to let it go and know that God’s timing is better than mine. We traveled over the holidays and when we came back I felt like life went from 0-100mph in no time flat! There were suitcases to unpack, clothes to wash, jet-lag to get over, teenagers to get out of bed and off to co-op, meals to plan, shopping to be done… Finally somewhere in there I broke. I couldn’t do it all or be it all. I had to let go of my expectations, get myself back into God’s Word, and figure out where HE wanted me to start. Once I began to do that, the peace came trickling back in. It always seems to come back to spending that invaluable time with God.
The more you spend time with God, the more you get to know him.
The more you get to know Him, the more you fall in love with Him.
The more you fall in love with Him, the more you trust him.
The more you trust Him, the more you surrender to Him.
The more you surrender to Him, the more you will have the peace, freedom and victory that only comes from Him.
Take it one step at a time. He will meet you where you are.