Thursday, January 01, 2009

2009...


Grab Your Motivate Me Monday Button Here:

A few weeks ago I joined the 5:16 AM club that is being hosted by Sarah Mae. If you are looking for an inspiring, encouraging, and challenging way to start the New Year, check out her blog as well as the other women who are part of this club. One thing we do is share each Monday what God is doing in our lives or things He is showing us. I thought I would leave this last post up and use it for Motivate Me Monday. Have a good one friends!


As I pull out my new, crisp calendar for this year, I am reminded of the verse from Psalm 90:12 which says, " Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." When I took down the calendar from this past year, I went through each month where nearly every little box had something written in it. Days of appointments, anniversaries, school schedules, birthdays, vacations, lunch or coffee dates with friends, reminders, and even family nights that we had to schedule in. Really, it has been a condensed version of my family's life in 12 pages.

There are days that I can remember so clearly and yet others that I have forgotten as this year has come to a close. Whether there was something written for that particular day or not, each one held a significance of it's own. There were days filled with joys and celebrations - birthday parties, the first day of school, Jessica's appointment for her senior picture, Sam's first band concert, and the sleep overs Ben had with his friends. There were other days that were marked with trials and difficulties like the six weeks beginning in late September that Jessica battled a horrendous migraine.

The old calender has been taken down and the new one has taken it's place on the desk. A clean, fresh start. Besides where I have filled in birthdays, anniversaries, and school schedules, there is nothing yet to fill these pages. There are no reminders of things to do yet, items crossed out, or arrows drawn to other boxes. What will this year have in store?

Knowing that there is a new year ahead, I find myself thinking about how I will spend my time. How will I make my days matter and just like what was written in the Psalms, how will I number my days aright and gain a heart of wisdom.

This really is going to be a very significant year for our family. I have a lot of anticipation and excitement that is already building knowing a few of the things that are in store for us. Our daughter, Jessica will celebrate her 18th birthday the beginning of February. I still can't believe that this is where we are in our life right now.... where she is right now. With that comes the graduation plans - parties, announcements, and knowing that we really are on the countdown until the day she leaves. Oh, how I want to make these days count and matter. My sister, Sarah will be having her baby girl this Spring. A baby that has been dreamt of, prayed for, and hoped for. This summer will hold the celebration of our son, Sam, turning 13 - officially a teenager. I can only wonder what these days will have in store. Once Fall rolls around, we will begin school again. This time I will only be sending off two. Jessica will be finalizing all of her plans and preparations as she gets ready to leave for YWAM (Youth With a Mission) in either Maui or Australia. This will definitely be a year like no other. A year of being in new places and many opportunities for my faith to grow and be stretched.

From January 1 to December 31, the days are already numbered and God knows exactly what each day is going to hold. I find such comfort and peace in knowing that. There are no trials yet that have been part of the new year, but neither are there any joys either that have graced them. There are 365 days for me to let slip away or to make matter. The choice is ultimately mine.

God has been teaching and showing me so much this past year about living a purposeful and intentional life. I know this lesson will be one I continue to learn as I begin planning and numbering my days this year. I really want my days this year to be ones of knowing that I have surrendered myself to Him and am allowing Him to use me - wherever, whenever, and however He chooses fit.

I am going to allow Him to be the Planner of my days and find the peace that comes from knowing that I have yielded my plans. I will trust Him for the details that each day will bring.

To number my days well also means that I am in His Word - reading it and memorizing Scripture. Learning, growing, allowing it to change me and hearing Him speak personally to me through His words. I also want my days to be filled with worshipping Jesus and pursuing Him above everything else.

I know that there will be many days in this new year that will be filled with insignificant things and daily tasks of little consequence. Even in those I want the Lord to be glorified and I want to know Him in those mundane tasks. Even the mundane can become divine.

So, I give this new year to the Lord. I pray that I am a woman that does the tasks that He has called me to do and that He finds me available. In all of the busyness that I know will come, I don't want to make my plans and then wonder if I have allowed Him to fit in somewhere. I choose to seek Him first. I pray that He gives me a heart to learn and a heart that finds enjoyment and peace in all the details, no matter how big or small. I just want to see Him in it all. I pray that He will give me the gentle reminders of when I need to slow down and get re-focused. I want to know and recognize His voice in the midst of my days, whether it's a quiet whisper or a tender shout. To know and experience His presence all of my days.

"Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." ~ Psalm 139:16

28 comments:

  1. oh how i enjoyed reading your post this morning! it goes along so well with the passages i have been reading too! i am excited today that we have been blessed with the start of a new year - one in which we can do and be all that God wants us to. may your new year be full and blessings and joy!
    ~nicole

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  2. A very wise start of a new calendar and a new year. As, the pages are turned, I pray that I will also be wise in the way I choose to spend my time. Thank you for sharing this timely reminder.

    Happy 2009!
    Denise

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  3. This is beautiful--you share your heart so well through writing. May this year be all that the Lord wants it to be in our lives and above ANYTHING else, may He be glorified with the things we set our hands too!

    Happy New Year!

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  4. Great post! It is comforting that our Lord already knows this year for us and our family...enjoying each day is important and praising our Lord!
    -sandy toes

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  5. Happy New Year! I enjoy reading your blog. It is a source of inspiration.

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  6. I always think of you and your calendar this time of year...it was your reflecting on the previous year that made me switch from my dry erase monthly calendar to a paper one. Because I want to be able to look back and see where our life as a family has been. I can't wait to see what God has in store for 2009. You have some pretty significant events this year, huh? Praying for a new year full of His blessings and knowing Him more. Love yas!

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  7. What a wonderful post for me to read as I welcome the first day of 2009!

    For many years, the day or so after Christmas, I take down the calendar in the kitchen and transfer birthdates etc over to our new calendar. It is amazing to reflect on all that the prior year had held.
    You are so right... in the Lord, even the mundane is divine!
    I love that you are going to yield to Him to be the planner of your days. I too want that for myself! Yes, Lord you have plans for me and for Christy! For all of us!

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  8. As I was reading about your daughter leaving for YWAM, I thought of another blogging friend whose daughter attends the same organization. I was going to tell you about her, but you already have her in your blogroll (Kim).

    I love the verse you've quoted here. I plan to write that above my family calendar that I just posted on our kitchen bulletin board. I am praying for a year centered around Jesus and the things He wishes for our family.

    Thank you for this post!

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  9. This post really inspired me. It reminded me to look back at the year and see where we are headed.

    Happy New Year!

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  10. I'm sitting down to write our family Christmas letter (yeah, I'm a little late...oh, well, better late than never!), and the verse I'm using to begin it is Psalm 90:12. It was great to read that in your post this morning!

    What wisdom you've expressed here. I echo the cry of your heart as you look into the new year!

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  11. This is SUCH a great post, Christy. This is just the encouragement I need to back up my foremost 2009 goal -- "choose joy." I put together a little plaque that sits next to my kitchen sink...I'll have to email you a picture. I pray that as I grow, I become a woman with your grace and wisdom. Happy New Year!

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  12. Such an inspiring and encouraging entry, Christy. Happy New Year! God bless you!

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  13. Oh friend...God TRULY does have your days/steps ordered...and he will be with you each and every day.

    Remember, as you face each day, each new joy, each new trial...that God is right there in the midst of it all.

    I'll be lifting you up ..moreso this year....as you begin to walk the road of transition.....as Jessica spreads her wings. You've done good Mamma...rest knowing God will take Jessica to amazing heights in him!!

    Love ya girlie!!

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  14. Beautiful, beautiful post!! I think this will be a year of growth and blessings for so many of us! :) Great reminders!
    I also keep my calendars from each year. So fun to flip back through, and great for scrapbooking too when I need a date, or a "1st tooth" from my kids! :)
    Have a Blessed New Year!

    Stacey

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  15. Beautiful and encouraging Christy, and thank you for sharing your heart. So right on!
    Happy New Year!

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  16. Christy, this was so beautifully put! You've expressed your heart so clearly and in such a way that every one of us can relate, and we're all challenged. It will be a year full of testimonies of our Faithful God, and I'll be praying for you as you walk through it. :-)

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  17. Happy New Year, friend! Just getting caught up on some blog reading. It sounds like you have some monumental moments coming up in 2009!

    Dar

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  18. Wonderful post, Christy! I needed the encouragement and reminder to live every day purposefully for Him.

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  19. Oh - I am just going to go back, read this again, and soak it all in. Can't wait to anticipate all these things with you. :)

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  20. What a great New Year's post.
    So much to look forward to.
    May we all have a blessed year as we walk with Him.

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  21. You are so wise and have so many great insights! I love the start of the new year, and as my kids are still so little, I will love your experienced words to teach me to enjoy them.

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  22. This is good...I am seeing a MMM theme today - intention, numbering our days...

    I think I need to do this as well. Thank you!

    Oh, if you link up with MMM (which I LOVE that you do because your posts are so insightful and movitvating) would you link back to me with either the MMM button or just a link at the end of your post?

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  23. This is a wonderful post. It is so good to remember that God has all the days numbered this year, especially when it would be so easy to be overwhelmed with all that you have coming up! Happy New Year Christy! :)
    Carrie

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  24. What a blessing your post is today! It sounds like you have really focussed on the most important thing . . . letting God choose your path. Thank you so much for sharing!

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  26. Hi Christy! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today because now I have come to yours and have been so encouraged by your post. Isn't is comforting to know that our days are the Lord's and have already been planned for us. I too just like you am looking at my clean and fresh calendar wondering what this year has in store...and like you am going to give it to the Lord first and then let everything fall into place as it may. I just read a bedtime story to my kids tonight from "The Book of Virtues" which is my book of the month this month!! It was a classic tale from Benjamin Franklin about a boy who wanted time to pass more quickly and never could be satisfied with each day but was always looking to the next. He received a gift of a magic thread that could pass time faster and spent his entire life speeding things along to get to the next part of life. Oh how that story ministered to me because at the end the boy realized that he had not enjoyed a single thing in his entire life. What a shame!! I want to enjoy each day and know that my day was purposed by God and that I did something with it!! You are so encouraging to me, so thank you again for stopping by!! I hope to chat with you again soon, Kellye

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  27. This is just beautiful. And, the prayer of my heart. I know that God is going to use all of the accountability and encouragement of these blogs to draw us all as sisters closer to Him in 2009.

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  28. Wow, I loved reading this post! It made ME excitied for the year and ponder who we will spend our days.

    Thanks for sharing your heart with us!

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