new questions

i've been thinking a good deal lately about why it is that at this time of year, we feel the need to change or improve our lives more than the other 51 weeks of the year. why do we need to wait until it's time to buy a new calendar before we are motivated to make the changes that we know all year long we need to make?

the thing that i keep coming back to is that we humans have a never-ending need for new beginnings. the possibility that we can start again, and maybe this time not mess something up. that maybe the next time we try, we'll do better, go farther, be stronger. i know that i have an unquenchable thirst to try again, especially on those days/weeks/years when i feel like all i have done is fail, fall down &/or disappoint.

2008 has definitely not been one of my favorite years. the month of january started off difficult, and ended with mom finding a lump in her breast...and in many ways, it went downhill from there. there were some great moments and occasions as well, but i know that in so many ways, i could have handled the year with more trust, obedience and grace than i did. i've seldom been so happy to see a year end.

but the reality is, that unless i do something about it, 2009 will be much the same. there will be struggles and pain ahead...there always is. Jesus didn't sugarcoat a life of discipleship, he said it would be hard...but that we would not be alone as we walk through it.

i love lamentations 3:19-26,

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

God's mercy and compassion are new every morning. and ever year, thankfully.

i found these ten questions on Pink Haired Girl's blog yesterday, and am working through them in an effort to be a better disciple this year. they're not the easiest of questions to answer, and even less easy to act on, but, in my estimation, staying the same is not an option.

1. what is one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. what is the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. what is the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. in which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. what is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. what is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. for whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. what’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. what one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. what single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?