I'm not really one for new year's resolutions. I may decide one second I really want to work more on our old house, or try to learn photography, or paint more, or actually exercise. Then I decide I should probably do more of the spiritual disciplines: memorize, meditate, pray, fast. Then I get frustrated with myself. Either I do all of the creative things I want, and the disciplines fall by the wayside, or I stick to the disciplines and pat myself on the back instead of relishing in the Lord. I don't carry through with what I set out to do.
Maybe I set my expectations too high, or too many simultaneous goals. In either case, I get so focused on doing these things I want to do, or think I should be doing, and I forget what's right in front of my face. I keep looking towards what's coming next, or trying to meet my own poorly-set expectations.
While I'm spending my energies trying to achieve my unrealistic goals, I find my patience with these two precious boys tends to wear thinner than usual. When M goes on a week long business trip, we are all purely in survival mode. Success is gauged by whether we're all breathing by the time he gets home. The countertops will be covered in pop-tart gunk from the morning he left, dishes will reach to the ceiling, toddlers will be screaming, and mamas hair will look like Whoopie Goldberg's hair in the 90s (even in a top knot) because I may have not showered since he's been home.
Instead on exhausting myself further with what I think I need more of, I want to rest in the delight of what the Lord has provided for this day.
So my word for the new year is DELIGHT
Delight in the truth that the Lord has given me all I need for today.
Delight in the comfort that the Lord is sovereign over everything, and is for my good.
Delight in these two precious, and crazy, boys the Lord has entrusted to me.
Delight in the knowledge of the Lord and teach my boys the delights in his law.
Delight in the people he has put around me.
Delight in the warm house he has given our family to enjoy.
Delight in my husband who loves me more than I recognize.
Delight in my responsibilities and commitments and carrying them out well.
Delight in being a stay-at-home mom.
So for this new calendar year, I want to refocus. I want to delight in the Lord, and all that he has already given me. I know I'll easily forget this new focus, just as I would a new resolution, but thank the Lord his mercies are new every morning--I don't have to wait for a new calendar year to restart.
"but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." psalm 1:1-3
"delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." psalm 37:4
"i delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart." psalm 40:7-9
"i will delight in your statutes; i will not forget your word." psalm 119:16
"but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. for in these things I delight, declares the LORD." Jeremiah 9:24
"your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts." Jeremiah 15:16
