Before you make resolutions,

consider this...

Lord, I think I feel
a divine draft.
An open door,
a closed door
Illuminate my path.
I will not waste my time pounding down a door divinely shut.
For in your constraints is freedom
And in your limits is love.
…
“Divine Drafts”
1.2.23

Before you make resolutions and set goals this year, consider how God has narrowed your focus through your limitations (closed doors) and through the need around you (open doors).

Ask questions like:
- What is the primary role God us given me right now? What is the focus?
- How has God limited me physically in time, finances, health, sleep, or geography?
- Who has God given me to serve and love? What does my family need? What does my church need?
- What do I need to serve well? How can I take care of my soul and body? What systems can I put in place? What discipline should I focus on?

I’m still learning how to do this. When I would set goals without considering these questions and without looking at how God had narrowed my focus through limitations and need, I would be inevitably annoyed at my limitations and the people in my way, and disappointed at my goals unreached. So instead, I am learning to lean into it. I am resting in the fact that God is guiding me through the things that go right and the things that go wrong. God is showing me how to use time through the disruptions of my plans: through the sickness of my children and the needs of my family, church, and community.

God will equip me and sustain me. Nothing can mess up his plan. He has never broken a promise or failed a resolution. This day is a good work laid out before me.

“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.”
Prov 21:30

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Eph 2:10

Download the New Year Study, including scripture, poetry, reflection questions, & a goal-setting template for more reflection questions and study.