E N J O Y in Two Thousand Nineteen
Hi Friends! Grab a cup of coffee and let's chat about the new year some more. It's where we are at, so it is what is in my head. I want to make the month of January the month where we talk about our goals and aspirations for 2019, what we hope to accomplish + learn, and what our focus will be. The next few posts will be in that same vein, and I hope you enjoy + get inspiration from these posts! Writing helps me focus my attention, so these post have been sort of therapeutic for me.
The word "intentional" has been flung around lately, and it isn't my favorite, so let’s interchange it with "purposeful." That is how I want to live my life, and how I want us, together, to approach this refreshing breath of a new year. Let's be purposeful in our actions, mindsets, and thoughts. If you haven't, go read my last post about how I am practically approaching the year in regards to goals here. I want to share with you today, over my gradually cooling coffee, two ways I am purposefully approaching the year in regards to my spiritual well being.
In the past few years, I have seen that people choose a word for the year. A word that represents their mindset, or what they hope to be their mindset, in the new year. I have also seen people choose a specific verse for the year, one they cling to and live by. I want my mindset to be one of godly purpose, one that will grow me closer and stronger in my faith, that will carry me through the next 12 months and the many unknowns they hold. I want a truth and purpose to cling to this year. Not one I happen upon one day, but one I chose and put in front of me often. That is why I have decided to join the word choosers, and find one that fits my heart right.
My word for this year is enjoy.
It was going to be "wait" but I don't like the implications of that word. It reminds me of taking a number at the DMV and sitting in a hard back chair until my number is called, signing in at the Doctor's Office awaiting a painful shot, or standing in line for 30 minutes at Wal-Mart waiting to check-out. A way of life I do not want to have this year. While there are many times of a spiritual waiting, and even a plea to wait on the Lord in scripture, I want something with a more positive implication. I want to carry on the idea of waiting for certain things (the right home, the right place to move, the right time to have children, etc...) with a twist of enjoyment overlaying it. I want to wait for the good, sweet, precious future moments while living happily and content in the sweet moments of today. So instead of 'wait', I have chosen enjoy.
Recently...Okay, my whole life, I have been excited for the future. Anxious + impatient for the next big thing. Even when the place I was in was good, I anxiously looked toward the next thing. My weakness now is babies. I want them so badly, probably more than anything else right now. The fever is high, 200 degrees of baby fever, guys. I know in my heart of hearts the time is not now, and I don't even truly want it to be now. I don't want to continue in this pattern of discontentment, I want to look in the present and see the good here (it is truly overwhelmingly abundant), and live peacefully knowing the future will be just as good, if not better. I want to choose to enjoy this moment.
I am truly blessed, so happy + in love. I love where I am. Instead of wanting another good thing, I am going to enjoy the present. I won't be discontent or disregard the goodness that overflows in search of the "next big thing." I will pause, look at my life, and enjoy the things I have. The people I have, the moments I have. When discontentment overwhelms me, I will look to Jesus to renew a peaceful, quiet contentment within me. This is my purpose in 2019. One I pray I will stick to, one that I pray God will constantly remind me to do. I pray that He whispers to my heart (and yours as well) to slow down, enjoy what I have given you today, and take no thought for tomorrow.
I think to be successful in this endeavor, I need to find scriptural truth to back me up. A God-breathed, otherworldly, inspired truth to remember, to hold to, to believe with my entire heart. After all, I am a weak human, riddled with sin and failing. I need the Spirit to guide me and help me in this, I really can't do it alone. To the Scriptures I have gone, and the Lord has provided.
The verse I am clinging to, that will be my truth for 2019 is:
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
Whenever I want to to be impatient for what's to come, I will remind myself of this truth. I will cling to it for dear life, and beg the Lord to speak it to my heart in anxious moments of future-seeking.
There is nothing, at all, that is better for me than to be happy and enjoy my life now, while I have it. There is nothing better than doing good as long as I live...no matter my heart or situation. There is nothing better than enjoying my work and life, because it is God's gift to me. The Scriptures proclaim that life is but a vapor, here one moment and gone the next. I must enjoy this vapor of life before is disperses into nothingness. God, my sweet loving God, looked down upon me (and you, dear sweet friend) with eyes of love, hands of grace, and a heart of mercy. He poured good life down upon us. Every good and precious thing is rained upon us from HIM. Sweet life that is a gift, one we did not deserve nor will we ever. He has blessed us abundantly, and for that reason we are to enjoy every moment. For that reason, I WILL enjoy every moment. By God's grace. I will slow down, I will sink into contentment and settle into peace.
Have you considered your purpose this year? Have you been given a specific truth you cling to through the moments of trial and joy this year? I would love to know and share in that truth with you. Let's live this year with purpose, and hold tightly, for dear life, to the truths that our Savior so graciously gifts us. Whether that truth is salvation, peace, redemption, or simply enjoyment of life.
