this will be the year that...

That I figure out why I hiccup when I eat spicy things.

That my home becomes a clearer reflection of who I am and what I love.

This’ll be the year I look up and around more than I stare straight ahead.

This will be the year I listen long and first, and share my opinion short and last. When I will see the beautiful in others and let love blanket the ugly.  That I am slow to pin wrongdoing and quick to point out what is worthy of praise.

This will be the year people quit saying, “You’re so perfect…” Because this'll be the year I let them close enough to see that’s not true. Close enough to see my weakness and faults. Near enough to see the shimmer of grace at work in every crevice of my imperfect. This will be the year I will have the confidence to be real because I will be confident in God’s transforming work in me. The confidence of mercy.

This will be the year I let myself relax into the joy and security and pleasure of being God’s child.

This will be the year that people are more important to me than time, and effort, and an ordered life.

I will learn to sing better and stronger.

I will learn to speak kinder and softer.

I will make my bed every morning.

I will make others laugh.

I will learn to hug and be hugged without cringing.

I will learn to receive from others without doubting the motive.

This will be the year that I glory in the season of life God has me in without gloating about it to the hurt of others.

This will be the year I learn to date better. Or simply date. Or simply date without wanting to punch someone in the gut.

This will be the year I invite my neighbors to sip sweet tea on my front porch at dusk. Also, I will learn how to make sweet tea.

I will have a garden.

I will be physically fit.

I will fill my home with the sound of families whenever possible.

This will be the year the Word of God dwells more richly in me. That my thoughts are more dominated by what God thinks than what Beth or others think. That the meditations of my heart and the words in my mouth are more acceptable in God’s sight.

This will be the year Beth’s blog moves to a better site. (btw we are getting close, folks!) That I will not be afraid anymore to let God wing my words where He wills. That I will be bold and run the direction He is leading me for the sake of His glory. For the sake of His people. For the sake of those who are not yet His people. This will be a year of exploits.

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And all these things this year will be possible because greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. Because with God all things are in the realm of possibility. Because abiding in Him will always produce extravagant fruit. Because when I ask anything in His name, He will do it. Because He will not leave me-no, not for a moment- this year. Because in Him there is all sufficiency, in all things, to do every good work.

This year will be possible, because this will be the year I believe those promises and find them to be true and effectual.

A year full-brimmed with the sweet harvest of faith.

Beth