New Every Morning… and Every New year

Well, it’s the New Year.

Ideally I would be giving five suggestions for how to best leverage your leadership or three keys to growing as a leader this year.

Most years by the time January 1st rolls around I’ve written out my key goals for the year and planned out the entire calendar.

But for some reason this year I have not done either of those things.

For some reason I’m reluctant…  I’m reluctant to welcome a new year.

2014 was a year of tremendous change.  Last year at this time I had just made an enormous decision to change jobs, sell most of my possessions and move across the country.

It was a good choice. It was the right choice.

But it did not make for an easy year.

2014 uncovered parts of me that I had not previously paid attention to. Pieces of my heart that needed tending that were often ignored because of pace and priorities became exposed when all of my usual comforts weren’t there to lean on.

It’s not that I’m not looking forward to 2015. I am. I’m hopeful to experience the fruit from all of the pruning of this last year.

But the pruning was tiring. It’s left me longing for a little more time before I have to turn the corner to a new year with new adventures, new goals and new plans.

In some ways I feel too tired to take on a New Year. I want to cling to a few more final days of 2014 for rest and rejuvenation. The driven, achiever in me feels the pressure of a new year ahead of me and the compulsion to not waste a moment of it. Who wants to get the New Year off on the wrong foot?

In my angst over welcoming a new year, the scripture “his mercies are new every morning” kept ringing through my mind. His mercies are new EVERY morning, not just the beginning of the New Year. What if we didn’t think a new year was our only chance for a clean slate, but every morning? In some ways it takes the pressure off of January 1st but perhaps increases the need to embrace that truth every other day of the year.

What if this year every day was new? Every day was a clean slate? Every day was an opportunity to chase those God-given dreams and experience the newness of God’s love, joy and mercy for us?

How are you feeling about this New Year? If you’re feeling overwhelmed or ill-prepared, start with experiencing his mercies new and fresh each morning… one day at a time.

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3 comments

  • turner_bethany January 4, 2015  

    Jenni, I am feeling the same way. There is a little sliver of me that wants to set goals, but the rest of me wants to just relax and not do any planning.

  • Kelli Wommack January 5, 2015  

    Hey Jenni! As you know, this year has also been one of transition for me as well. And I so resonate with your feelings of wanting to rest and rejuvenate just a little more! However, I know that God has called each of us to do great things for Him – and He will give us the energy and the motivation to do them! I am praying for you and think of you often!

  • Emily Snow Sledge January 7, 2015  

    I am quite evenly torn between a desire for a deeper more, and a desire to let go of these weighty expectations of myself. Somewhere in my mind, I know there has to be balance, a way to be both Mary and Martha – achieving and resting, striving and Sabbathing (excuse my made up word!). Maybe a real Sabbath is the key, I’m not sure, but I crave that middle ground needed for joy and self-acceptance.