Monday, January 7, 2013

December 31, 2013

Between tweeting, texting, phone calls, emails and blogging, it's hard to get a thing done! If you're like me, you can sit at your desk and simply respond to the next electronic thing that blinks, flashes, chirps or vibrates.  Staying busy while getting further and further behind.

It happens with the big things, too.  For many of my friends who pastor churches, death is taking up an increasing amount of time.  How does one ever plan for the future if it's all about tying up loose ends from the past?  How do we birth a new kingdom if we are always attending to endings?

I took some time between Christmas and New Year, after two deaths in my own family, to turn it all off and tune in to my spirit and to the Divine nudge.  What does God want from me?  Where are my gifts calling me?  Where does the world's deep need and my own gladness meet?

I spent several days dreaming, reflecting, writing.

Then I wrote a letter dated December 31, 2013.  Yes, 2013.  In the letter, I reflected on the year just passed.  I coded my dreams, along with the Spirit's nudge, into words of gratitude and thankfulness for all that transpired. It was playful, intentional, and inspiring.  Then I read it aloud to my husband and my friend Lyna.  Now I have it in a place where I can review my dreams once a week.

Will I actually get to be on Talk of the Nation?  Or manage to meditate every morning?  No telling.  Will my new writing find publishers this year?  Will my giving exceed that of last year's?  Who knows?  Will I grow all the vegetables I intend?   Or serve all the people I envision?  No telling on any of this.  Hey, I might be not even be alive by the end of the year.  (No, there's nothing wrong with my health. It's just that none of us really knows how much time we have.)

But I do know this:  the clearer the vision I have for the year, the more tuned in I am to the prompting of God, the steadier the course I can chart.  So when things begin blinking, flashing, chirping, and vibrating I can choose responsibly.  When  funerals begin to pile up and the needs of those I love collide, I know where to get back on course.

The world will invariably be sweeter, wilder, and more unpredictable than I can imagine.  But God is faithful.  And, like Paul, in my own way I intend "to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Phil 3:14

In fact, I'm looking forward to 2013.  And to reading that letter at year's end.  Most of all, I'm looking forward to being of service, and building the Kingdom of God, in ways great and small!    

What about you?