Winter Reflections

I was recently watching some videos from the end of 2019 on YouTube. They were all about the plans everyone was making for 2020 and what they wanted to do in the new year. It was still 2019  and yet their focus was on what would happen in 2020, their new year’s resolutions, planning out their goals and all they wanted to accomplish in the new year. 

Some had travel plans and shared all the places they would go- new countries they were going to explore and tropical locations they couldn’t wait to visit.

Some were making goals for their small businesses and how they planned to grow them in 2020. 

And so on. 

But no one could have predicted the global pandemic that would hit just a couple months later. No one could have known that all those travel plans would be canceled and businesses would shut down. For months.

Proverbs 16:9

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

We are all in such a rush to get to the next thing. The next goal. The next season. But why? We have no idea what waits for us there. Why are we so uncomfortable just being present in this season. In this day?

When I walked into Target a few days after Christmas, I noticed that all of the Christmas decor was gone and had been replaced by Valentine’s cards and candy and bathing suits for the summer. Bathing suits?! It’s currently 40 something degrees outside right now. We are always in a rush for the next season. 

Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

It’s not wrong to make goals and plans, of course. The problem is that we have no idea what tomorrow holds. It’s hard to make a plan for the next year when we have no idea what it will bring. Travel plans and business goals could be quickly canceled by global pandemics, or, more likely, something in your personal life that you didn’t know was coming. 

So I’m not rushing this year to make plans and resolutions for the new year. I’m taking the first month of this year to simply reflect on the last one. What did I learn? Did my faith in God grow? Am I feeling closer to him?

If you had asked me at the beginning of 2023 what the end of 2023 would look like, I would not have been able to envision all this year has brought. God has moved in amazing ways. I get to preach now. I did NOT see that coming. I am finally counseling women for a living which is something God told me would happen 10 years ago! I waited for an entire decade for that to be the case and 10 years later (almost to the day) he brought it to pass. I love where I work. I had no idea I’d be in full-time ministry getting to teach, counsel, and share God’s love every day. I wouldn’t have expected that I’d be holding my first grandchild either. It’s been a year of surprises and no amount of planning or resolving could have prepared me for this.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we may be able to admit that the reason we do many of the things we do in life is just because the rest of our culture does. We’re just going with the flow.

Following the crowd.

But have you noticed? The crowd is often feeling pressured, hurried, and disconnected. As a culture, our lives are suffering. Our relationships with God are weak. Our physical health is poor. Our mental health is no better.

We need to slow down.

I want to take time to reflect on what God did in this last year before I make decisions about the next one. I need to know how God was moving so I can see where he seems to be leading. 

We’re so busy living by the constructs of time and calendars that we aren’t paying attention to the seasons. It’s Winter where I live. Creation seems to be resting. The gray days and clouds outside seem to beckon us to slow down, pay attention, and reflect. 

Soon it will be Spring. Things will be changing. Growing. Budding. New life will begin. That season feels like the perfect time to act on new ideas that were birthed during the reflection of Winter. 

So this year, I’ll rest, reflect, and pray during January. I'll ask God where he’s moving, where he’s working, and how I can join him in that work. And I’ll resolve to continue on mission with him.