Create: My Word for 2021

“He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers” (Ex 35:35).

I haven’t made New Year’s resolutions in a long time. Instead, I choose a word for the year. I use this word to focus on an area of my life where I believe the Lord wants to make changes or have me grow. I’ve chosen words such as “trust,” “focus,” “compassion,” and “bold.” Last year, my word was “renew.” As 2020 began, I felt burned out. I had no idea how much I would need renewal as the year (and the pandemic) wore on.

This year, God revealed my word to me more slowly than usual. I often have my word for the year in November, or the first week of January at the latest. We were halfway through January before I felt comfortable with the word that kept coming to mind: “create.” Continue reading “Create: My Word for 2021”

2020: What I Lost

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails (Prov 19:21).

In last week’s blog post, I wrote about the things I gained and the things that worked for me in 2020. This week, I’m looking at what I lost or what didn’t work. When I know what didn’t work, I can take steps to make changes.

Honestly, 2020 was full of losses—for some more than others. It would be easy to focus on all the bad things, especially since 2021 seems as if it’s just a continuation of the craziness of last year.

But my purpose is not to wallow in negativity. Instead, I want to acknowledge what was lost  so that I can grieve it and move on (because you can’t grieve what you don’t recognize). After that,  I can make changes to the things I can control and move on. Continue reading “2020: What I Lost”

2020: What I Gained

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2).

At the beginning of each new year, I like to look back at what worked and what didn’t in the previous year. By discovering what went well, I can move forward and do more of those things.

In 2020, each of us experienced both gains and losses. It is hard to say that 2020 was good by any stretch of the imagination. I believe it is more appropriate to say that some good came from the events of 2020. For example, I wrote a blog post early in the pandemic about people delivering and dropping off groceries and prescriptions for those who couldn’t get out and shop for themselves. Good happened when people looked outside themselves and their comfort zones to help others.

Upon reflection, I have realized some of the good things in my life that came from 2020. A summary of the top five follows. Continue reading “2020: What I Gained”

Sharing the Love of Christ

This blog post originally appeared on December 9, 2018.

“Do everything in love.” (1 Cor 16:14)

The term “love” gets thrown around a lot in today’s culture. We hear the word so much that it’s lost its meaning. Recently, one of my friends recently explained the reason for this: we have only one word in the English language to express the deep, abiding feeling that love brings. We use the word “love” to describe how we feel about cheeseburgers, our families, and our hobbies, among other things. Continue reading “Sharing the Love of Christ”

Top 10 Posts in 2020

As 2020 comes to an end (finally!), I wanted to share my top ten blog posts for the year. COVID-19 was, of course, a major theme running throughout my blog posts this year. On the whole, I looked for positive things to share in my posts. The following posts have resonated most strongly with you, my readers, over the last eleven months: Continue reading “Top 10 Posts in 2020”