A Restart for the New Year

They cuddled up next to me last night, one girl on each side, the weight of my arms around them like heavy assurance, their breathing steady and deep. And in this new year, in this season of doing and dreaming, Pinteresting and perfecting, resolving and restarting, it was good for us to just be still and be near. 

It’s easy to rush through the start of a new year, to make the goals and check the boxes and strive to make this the year that we’ll get it right. But in this pursuit of the good things, we risk missing the BEST things.

I didn’t make resolutions this year. I didn’t choose a word. I haven’t listed out my goals. I’ll get around to it eventually … maybe. But I’m not in a hurry. This year feels different. I feel less inclined to rush. Maybe it’s the fact that I just turned 40 or that my oldest is turning 12 in a few months … just 6 more years until he’s 18. That slays me a little. I’m realizing how short the time is, and I don’t want to rush into January with its bustling busyness, its tasks and its to-dos. I’d rather savor this season. 

When we look back on our lives, the things that matter most won’t be the productivity of our days, it will be the presence of our heart.

And I want to cultivate a heart that’s fully present … present with Jesus, present with my family, present with my community.

If I’m going to be fully present in those areas, I’m going to have to diminish my presence in other areas. Jesus understood this, and he set the example. When the crowds were pressing in on him, wanting more teaching, more wisdom, more healing, he often withdrew from the busyness of those demands to spend time in seclusion and prayer.

Jesus repeatedly diminished his presence with the crowds so he could increase his presence with His Father.

He knew that the best way to serve those around him was not to give into their every demand, but to posture his heart in alignment with the will of His father who would equip Him to serve. And the key to that posturing of heart was solitude with the Father.

If Jesus, being both fully God and fully man, had to step away from the busyness and the demands and the expectations, then how much more do we need to do the same?

 

I don’t know exactly what that looks like just yet. I don’t know how that plays out amidst the needs of my family, my business, my relationships, but I know that I’m not rushing into goals or to-do’s this year. I’m taking it a bit slower, and I’m trying to posture my heart so that I’m fully present with the ones who matter, rather than being fully present with the tasks of productivity. It’s a restart to the new year that feels counter-cultural, yet so desperately needed.

Maybe you’re feeling this tension too … this need to slow down, to find rest, to eschew the expectations of the new year, to place position above performance, and presence of heart above productivity. If so, let us look to Jesus and the example He set. Let us seek moments in our days when we can withdraw from the demands pressed upon us to seek solitude with the Father, and then let the Father direct our ways.

Because although in this withdrawing we may miss some of the good things, in the end, we’ll secure the best things.

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