We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9 NLT

Dear Friend,

I have a challenge for you as we close out this year.

How much time do you take for reflection? It isn’t part of our culture at all, is it? Go, go, go! Do more and do it faster! Make more money! Have more impact! Be more efficient! What if the more you are looking for is really about becoming who you want to be, who you were designed to be?

Here is my challenge: In these last few days of the year take time to stop, ponder, and determine what you want for next year.

To help you meet that challenge, I’m giving you some questions to jumpstart your reflection. Let them stir grief if needed, inspire celebration, and ignite desire for the new year. If you journal, have your pen nearby to jot down some thoughts.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

Do you like to skip to the end of a book or a movie? Are you one of those people who just wants to see how it all turns out? Does knowing the end help you to enjoy the unfolding of the story better? You can see how everything fits together as it is happening. But it does take the element of wonder and surprise out of the picture, doesn’t it? When you don’t know the end, you find yourself trying to figure out how things fit. You think back to earlier parts of the story and try to envision where the creator is taking you. Life is more like that, right? As much as we want to skip to the end and see how it all turns out, we can’t. Each step along the journey of life is connected, but if we aren’t thinking back as well as looking forward, we don’t make the connection. Let’s apply that to right now, shall we?

The best way to prepare for the new year is to look back at the current year. We are a culture that skips over reflection to get to what is next. I know I do! Tom and I have been in a major transition for quite some time, and I have been so aware of how much I want to just skip to the end. But I have also been aware that I haven’t wanted to miss anything along the way. I know that every step is important. Every transition has endings and beginnings, but in between is the messy middle. That’s the place where you want to skip to the end! Now that our transition has more beginnings, I have been looking back and seeing the important steps along the way. The ones I wanted to skip.