I scrubbed all the to-do’s off my white board today. The ones leftover from last year. I needed a clean slate and I couldn’t look at those not-quite-done-to-do’s any longer. So I erased them.
I didn’t want to simply replace the old list with a new list that looked just like the old list but in neater handwriting. I wanted that white space to be something new. I wanted it to be a place where I could be reminded to savor, to dream big and pray harder and live a life that is less about me and more about God.
I wrote some scary things on that list. Things like “find a mentor” and “speak.” I wrote down dreams like “rebrand” and areas I need to let go of guilt, like “self-care.” I vaguely put into words a project I want to work on, a Bible study I’d like to start, and my desire for this space & my social media platforms: to encourage – motivate – inspire – teach.
When you’ve spent so many years making goals and then striving and working like crazy to make them happen, making a new list can add stress and not excitement. I want this year to be different, and the only way I can think to do that is to start with the very last thing I wrote on the list:
Less of me. More of Him.
When our plans are made from spiritual complacency – when we plan and set goals on our own without consulting God because we think we can do it on our own – we’re living life upside down and will spend our time frantically striving to make it right side up. That’s what I’ve felt the last few years, like a hamster in a wheel spinning and running and spinning but not going anywhere.
This? This is what I don’t want this year:
“Doom to you! You pretend to have the inside track. You shut GOD out and work behind the scenes, Plotting the future as if you knew everything, acting mysterious, never showing your hand. You have everything backward! You treat the potter as a lump of clay. Does a book say to its author, “He didn’t write a word of me”? Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it, “She had nothing to do with this”?” Isaiah 29:15-16 MSG
Beyond the whole “doom” part {that’ll get your attention}, how often do we look around at what everyone else is doing and make plans that will bring us glory but never think to bring God in and ask if it’s not just right for us, but right for us right now?
I’m ready for something different than the tired and typical planning that makes me feel like I’m barely keeping up with the Joneses. I want to be all in. My heart is craving a holy fire to go after some dreams that are bigger than anything I could do on my own so that all the fame can go to God when it comes together. The goals, written on a white board, ready to be rewritten, erased, enjoyed, and moved around, as the Spirit leads.
What goals and dreams do you have for this year? How do you remember to intentionally go to God and ask for His guidance and blessing?
Crystal, You inspire, encourage and challenge me so much each time I visit you. I especially ;oved seeing that at the top of your list was to “find a mentor” that is also on my list. I think I forget that those a little further down the blogging/writing/speaking road are already ‘there’ and don’t need a mentor.
Crystal, this is beautiful. And so in the right place. I wonder sometimes about people who “dream big” and all that–are our dreams getting ahead of us? We need to make God’s dreams for us our dreams first, and the rest will all fall into place. Good for you.
Crystal,
When I saw your “hamster wheel” title in my email inbox I knew I had to read it ( I have not read anyone’s blog for months because they too make me feel overwhelmed and then guilty for spending time in front of the PC). It was that image of hamster wheel and a rat trapped in maze that came to me in prayer this morning. You see the image of the “open door” based on Revelations 3 to the church of Philadelphia I’ve been trying for a year to walk through. The Lord thoroughly surprised me by revealing to me this past week the doors I was opening up, that were keeping me from getting off the fail/repeat/repent/try harder wheel I’d been stuck on instead of victory in a very specific area in my life. Because He spoke and others laid hands on me and spoke tongues…the whole shebang last December that I was set free and It Did Not Happen! I was stuck and Jesus’s power seemed to not be working. An entire year…13 months actually! The doors I was opening up were several and most had nothing to do with spiritual attack from Satan..they were just letting him in my mind. Ordinary things like diet, time management, daydreaming,self-image, how I viewed God not at all like a father and more…(yeah I have alot of issues!) I hope this encourages you not to then try another method or plan that worked for so and so, as you wrote above so beautifully, but ask Your Father what doors are you opening up that are keeping you stuck and not living in victory in SPECIFIC areas.
I will be praying for you today.
Cheers,
Leah
I’m short on words these days, but I couldn’t love this post more…. Thank you. Just thank you. 🙂
Short on words right back today, so just a big hug coming your way 🙂
Thank you for the reminder that I need to stop and consider what GOD wants for my plans and dreams and goals before I just launch right into them in the new year. I needed the reminder!
Can’t wait to see what God has planned for you this year 🙂
I want to be awakened by God. I am slowing down and spending more time with Him. My biggest dream is to write. Scary to me. I am a teacher and when I teach writing I just feel this passion. I love your we must decrease so he can increase. I put that on a sticky note as a daily reminder this am.
Awakened by God – love that! There is a verse later in Isaiah where God says “I’m going to step in and shock them awake, astonish them, stand them on their ears.” That’s what I’m looking for this year!
I’m working and praying through Lara Casey’s powersheets for 2015 and I’ve only set one goal for this year so far. To know God and to be known by God. To know God- to be completely saturated in scripture and praying for His heartbeat in my world. And what I mean by known by God is to walk with Him so closely and intimately that He really KNOWS every thought and step. It means some big changes. Just like you- less striving to do lists and more sitting with The Lord. It’s hard for me- the ENFP in me doesn’t like to be still.
Is there really any better goal? Love that!
I liked “seeing” your goals on the white board.:) My husband just did a goal-setting exercise with his youth group. He had the students write down their goals and then spend time praying, going before God and asking if He wanted any of them to be removed or some added, etc. It was a good reminder for me to “Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3 Ultimately He directs us as we go forward. Watching in anticipation with you as the year unfolds.:)
Oh…writing that verse down right now – that’s a good one!
He must increase . . . I must decrease. That’s what I have on my screen saver. It’s something God is putting on my heart too! Praying for you friend!
We can hardly go wrong with that prayer, can we? Love that it’s your screensaver!