2020 Vision

2020 Vision

It's so hard to believe that the year 2020 has arrived. The new year always brings with it the thoughts of what is ahead. Goals are set, resolutions will be made, and broken, lol. Seriously only 25% of people will still be on track with their resolutions after 30 days, and only 8% will actually stick to them. Ouch!

As I look back at 2019, I'm not disappointed, I made some positive adjustments in my life, though no where near what I wanted... A friend once told me, shoot for the stars, if you only hit the moon you still have gone forward. – to a point, he was right.

Going into 2020 I am NOT setting resolutions, I am setting goals, goals are realistic and incremental. I am desiring to change my vision... not my eyesight, but rather my vision of my life's path. I want to move forward in the vision that God has called me to live, I want His vision for my life to become more clear to me.

This is something that will require much more than making a resolution, it means taking forward steps toward the goal. In doing this, I must remember those incremental steps that will add up to the desired result, a life submitted to the Lord, following His will for my life, not my own.

The amazing thing is that this is something that anyone can do, the trick is, it takes the decision to do the steps, and they aren't hard to do, but yet I have found myself choosing the easier path of not doing them diligently in the past. – However, I have a deep stirring in my soul to press forward in a new way this year. I really want that 20-20 vision!!

The steps I know to make at this time: (You can too, if you choose.)

• More time in prayer – this can start with increasing by a little a day, or just starting, 5 minutes increase is still increase, and as time goes on, add more. If I do just 5 minutes more a day, that's 35 minutes a week, and that nets over 30 more hours a year, minimum. That's a lot more time in the Lord's presence!!
• More time in His word. Same principle as above.
• Studying the word with more purpose.
• Journaling more, my prayers, hopes and visions. Writing these things down allows for focus, and also allows for reflection as time passes.
• Being active in the house of the Lord. – A plant grows better when it is planted. I know, that in my life, the extended family I have acquired in the house of the Lord had been irreplaceable.
  
  

Yes, I want 2020 vision for my life, His perfect vision. Will I walk 100% in God's will this year? Of course I'd like to think so, but I know me, and the battle I have with my will. So, what I will do, is press in and press forward, I will take any forward progress I can make.

I am excited for the year ahead, a new decade, new beginnings!!

My heart for all of you is the same, new beginnings, just start where you are and take it a step at a time.

Searching for the Perfect Tree

It's that time of year, the time when we set out to find the 'Perfect Tree.

For some that means a trip to the woods, always fun and quite the adventure, memories of doing this with my own family over the years, sometime with snow, and sometimes without... they always make me smile.

  Or maybe it's heading to a department store to find the right size, color of lights, price and style of artificial tree. (When we bought an artificial tree there was a debate... colored or white lights, lol.)

Whether you choose a natural tree or an artificial tree, you want it special, because... well let's face it, the tree, and all that goes with it, on it and around it, is a huge part of this season.

Sometimes it's fun to decorate a tree in the yard too... I know I love to see the lights on people's trees, and house's, during this time of year, they always bring a smile to my face. As a matter of fact, they bring the memory of a 2 year old child in a car seat constantly, and delightedly saying, "Oh, Pretty!!!!" as we went light looking many years ago.

But I was struck recently with a thought of a different tree... A 'tree' that was the most perfect tree. It was not perfect because of it's shape, size or decoration, it was/is perfect because of what it represents, the completed work of the greatest Christmas gift ever given.

The Gift of course, is the reason we celebrate this season, the gift was a tiny child born on dark night so many years ago. A child that was born for one reason. He would grow up to be Savior of the world for all who choose to call on Him. JESUS. And the tree I speak of, the cross that bore His body through the crucifixion, the ultimate sacrifice, His life for ours.

From my heart to yours this season: Merry CHRISTmas!!! Remember the Reason for the Season!

Fantastic Fall

I love fall!!

Everyone has their favorite season... for most it's probably spring or summer... for some it's winter, but as for me- I love the fall!

I enjoy the other seasons (for the most part) but I feel rejuvenated in the fall. Weird, I know. I just can't help myself, as the Lord begins to wave His paintbrush over the landscape my heart leaps. There is nothing that can match those colors, seriously!

God made each season unique, and to me the fall is the culmination of things.

Winter is the time of rest in many ways, most of the plants go dormant, the weather does it's best to keep us indoors. The daylight is less, we tend to be more willing to take time to be quiet... yes, like nature we know it's a season of rest.

Spring is a season of rejuvenation, new life is blossoming around us, it is a time to plant. Whether that is in the natural and we are preparing to plant our garden, or seeking the Lord to plant new dreams in our heart.

Summer comes with the warmth of the sun and longer hours of daylight, and this gives us time to play and allows the plants to grow.

Then comes fall and with it the wonder of the harvest... something that began months before with the turning of soil and planting of the seeds is now bursting for with produce.

I am reminded in this season that we also go through seasons, though they may not always align with the season of nature we are in at the time.

In my personal life I have seen seasons of winter, with it's darkness and sense of loss, I have gone through seasons of spring with new life and optimism... prayers of new dreams for my life.

Then comes a summer season... a time to rejoice in the beauty around us, maybe a trip to the coast to watch the ocean and ponder the power of the Lord. It is a time to allow the dreams that the Lord has put in our hearts to grow. To trust that, if He gave us the dream, He will bring it to pass.

But the best time of all, the one that is so exciting to come into, a fall season!! Sometimes we know when these are coming- maybe it's the completion of a project we have been working on. But sometimes, and these are the best, are those times of dream harvest... That moment that the Lord brings into being those dreams He gave us in that "spring" however long ago it was that we got the dream.

So back to the physical fall outside, yes, I love the colors, the sounds and smell of this time of year, what I really love is that I see it as the Lord's reminder that He will bring my life into it's season of harvest in His timing. And His timing is always best!