2013 is here and our Christmas tree (a live one, mind you, that we chopped down the Saturday after Thanksgiving) is still up, lit, and decorated. The stockings are still hung by the fireplace. The table is still decorated for Christmas brunch. Our suitcases are not unpacked. Stuff is strewn about our house. My cough from the flu is still lingering. It looks like we dragged in some baggage from 2012, huh?
I bet you have some things that carried over from last year too. It’s difficult to wrap up everything you hoped to accomplish in 365 days. Definitely not impossible, but difficult for sure. That’s O.K.
It’s awesome to set goals for yourself and try really hard to reach them. But it’s not awesome to beat yourself up if important things in life come up that prevent you from accomplishing all that you had hoped.
Stop it right here. I have something to encourage you:
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
(Psalm 139:16)
No matter what you have on your to-do list, God’s plan for your life will determine what gets done on your list and what He has in mind for your list. Rather than be upset about what you didn’t finish in 2012 or anxious about what you’d like to accomplish in 2013, sit down and consider the words of Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of wisdom.”
As we look back on what we did, did not, and hope to accomplish, with the perspective of numbering our days, God will give our hearts wisdom to sort out what is most important through His agenda in our lives. God already knew what you would get done and what you would not during 2012. He knew it before you were even born. Maybe you didn’t lose all the weight you had hoped. Maybe you didn’t get to check off as many things on the ole bucket list that you had hoped. Maybe you didn’t get to give as much as you hoped because you didn’t make as much as you had hoped. Maybe you didn’t get to go on the trip you had hoped. Maybe you didn’t read as much as you hoped. Maybe you haven’t found a mate like you had hoped for yet. Maybe you haven’t had the family life you had hoped for. But the thing is, if you did nothing else, you hoped. And you probably gave it your best go at a lot of those things.
What or who are you putting your hope in? If your hope is in Christ, it will not disappoint. If it’s in yourself or other people, you’ll be disappointed every time. That’s because we humans are limited. We’re hopeless on our own. But if our hope is in Christ, when we reach the end of our days, we’ll look back and see that we have accomplished all that He wrote for the story of our lives before we ever even made our debut in this world.
Why are you hoping for what you’re hoping for? Is it for your personal ambitions or to impress the world around you? Or is it for the hope of glory? If we’re hoping for the glory of God to shine through each day of our calendar, there will be no disappointment. God always shows up when He wants His glory to be seen. Be prepared to experience that this year through whatever it is you’re hoping for…no matter how it turns out.
So, to 2013 I say, I’m going to make every effort to rejoice in the hope of His glory showing up in whatever He has planned for my to-do list. Good days and bad days alike, let’s claim the good news that…
“Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who He has given us.”
(Romans 5:5)
We got this y’all, because God has it for us. 2013, be advised, the Holy Spirit has been given to those of us who have received Him, so we won’t be disappointed, because He IS our hope.
May all that we bring over from 2013 to 2014 be laced with the hope of Jesus Christ.