3 Ways NOT to step into the New Year
Personally, I love the energy around New Year’s day – the sense of clean slates and new starts, the talk of big dreams and strategic planning to get there.
Really, I’m all for it…except for the fact that it is all supposed to happen in a tiny little sliver of time between New Year’s eve and New Year’s day.
Not only is it unrealistic to think that you can really prepare the soil for an abundant harvest in such a small window of time…but it doesn’t actually honor the whole SEASON we are entering into.
So with that in mind, I’ve been reflecting on 3 ways we should NOT step into the new year:
1. Do not leave the year without receiving its gifts
So often we pass through the threshold of one year without acknowledging, celebrating and honoring all the life we lived within it.
There is GOLD there, mama…and when you review (in very specific ways) your past year you can find the hot tracks left there to show you exactly where you should be heading for the year to come. Letting the years pass by over and over without any sense of pausing or honoring them (let alone, mining the for the meaning, insight, and wisdom they contain) is foolish and sets you up for missing many of the lessons you are meant to learn.
2. Do not jump into action before you are ready
January (the beginning of the winter season) is not a natural time of outward action and high energy movement. It is a time of deepening your roots so the sprouts of the spring can come forth in full force when they are ready.
Now is a time of taking stock, of inventory, of acknowledgment, of pruning and visioning. Of crafting gorgeous architectural plans of the garden you will grow so that it is efficient and orderly and wisely planted.
I use the whole stretch of the winter season to get prepared for the full year ahead of me.
3. Do not default into society’s dream list for your life
The third thing NOT to do is to default into someone else’s dream list (whether that is some other person’s or the media-inspired “big dream lists” we are inundated with). Make sure your vision is your own.
Let God in and ask Him to give you His vision for your life and your growth. Seek inwardly and go through a process to see who you are meant to become and where your life is meant to be headed and source your dreams from that place.
Signing up right now. To start the New Year out with some fresh wisdom from LIsa…a nice gift of encouragement for sure! Thank you, Lisa.
Your so welcome, Melody- Will be great to have you on the webinar!!
Such wise words Lisa!
I wholeheartedly agree with you on the three points made.
It’s like you completely messed up the rest of your year (life) if you do not do such and such or set up your twenty lists of tasks for the coming year before the first of January…..
Thanks Maggie…time to stop those runaway thoughts and get geared up for a great grace-filled year 🙂
Happy New Years Lisa.. I am all signed up and shared on my Facebook page.. look forward to listening.. Blessings to you sweet girl…your one of the daughters of my heart..praying for you. Erin
Thank you, Erin…can’t possibly thank you enough for your prayers and encouragement!
I love your description of winter being a time of preparation more than action. It is a time where we stay inside and hang with our family more – deepening those roots. Great insight and advice!
What a timely message, and such wise words. When almost every blog I read talked about new year resolutions, I was really feeling the pressure to come up with my goals too. Until your post came along.. and thank God! I love what you said: “So often we pass through the threshold of one year without acknowledging, celebrating and honoring all the life we lived within it.” I’ll go take time now to acknowledge, celebrate and honour the special moments of 2012 before I even attempt to start listing my goals. Thank you, Lisa!
[…] I read a timely post by Lisa Byrne about how NOT to enter the new year. She wrote that “not only is it unrealistic to […]