New year, new beginnings, fresh start. A new year brings new beginnings and a fresh start. I love new things so it is only natural that I love the start of a new year. I believe a new year is brimming with promises and opportunities. It is a chance to get rid of things that didn’t work the previous year and to do something different. Last year I gave myself the gift of hope and I hope that you did the same. This year I am giving myself the gift of time, and this time I am giving to loving relationships starting with my relationship with my heavenly Father, my children, my siblings & parents, my in-laws and my friends.
What didn’t work last year? Confession time; reading the bible cover to cover and so this year I have created my own reading plan. Let us see how that goes. So why is reading the bible important to me especially this year? Relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is my objective and He has said I can learn or get to know Him better through reading His word. My hope and prayer is as I read about Him it will increase my desire to know Him and to spend more time with Him. One of my favourite scripture verses is Joshua 1:8, where the Lord encourages Joshua to meditate of the word day and night.
What I would like to realise after spending more time with God through learning about Him in His word is that I would look like Him, be like Him. Luckily as a believer I am more than halfway there because the bible says at salvation I got indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And His major task in my life is to make me more like Christ. Needless to say I have to be willing to change, I have to be committed to the renewing of my mind. I have to actively seek the Kingdom of God.
To conquer the mystery of time, I will have to plan, schedule and be disciplined. Some things or rather activities will have to be immovable. They have to be cast in stone. Some activities will have to be flexible because life has a way of interrupting the best laid plans. So I have to set up a system where I resist the urge to postpone indefinitely. What I need is a reset button that is easily understood and can be readily implemented. I am off to a great start with reading the bible. My plan is to read 5 chapters a day on 5 days a week and I have read up to and including chapter 45.
I wish you an incredible, adventurous, prosperous year. May the presence of the Lord go before you and be with you at all times. Amen