I’m a list maker by nature. And at the start of a new year, I enjoy taking all the disparate bits and pieces running around in my brain and organizing them on paper. My squiggles cover everything from what will fill my spring garden to God’s gentle promptings for the coming year.

This year I tried a new strategy. I created my plan and then handed it to my husband. I’m not sure what I hoped to accomplish by asking for his input. Perhaps I was looking for a little validation for such an organized, detailed plan. Or maybe, I was looking for some deep philosophical conversation about why I had selected some things for the list while others remained sidelined. Instead, he offered a single suggestion, “Have you thought about putting a timeline for each entry?” And with that, he handed me back the sheet of paper.

After the disappointment subsided, I gave some more thought to his question. And I took a look at my plan from his perspective.

My husband watches as I attempt to navigate my hectic schedule and is left picking up the pieces of my physical exhaustion and emotional fatigue. I can imagine he looked at the proposed blueprint for the coming year and immediately recognized its potential to push me beyond my limits. In hindsight, his single question, as irritating as it was when first asked, helped me to see a flaw in my planning. Our subsequent conversations, helped me to understand his motivations. It comes down to this. As he looked at my plan, he wondered if there were enough waking minutes in a day to pull it off. And now with fresh eyes, I wonder the same thing.

Life looks so easy spread out on a sheet of paper. Each activity can be easily moved from one planning quadrant to another. They all seem to fit neatly together as they lay quiet and peaceful, void of schedule conflicts or interactions with other busy lives. But when good intentions meet physical limitations or well-organized agendas collide with conflicting goals, that’s where all the planning dissolves into a pile of despair. That’s where others are left to pick up the emotional and physical fragments.

Perhaps you’ve found yourself on that same wobbly ground. It’s called real life and it is the only ground we have to stand on. So how can we look at the new year sensibly, set reasonable goals, and come out sane and whole?

My husband, in his wisdom, asked a single follow-up question, “What do you think God would have you do?” (Just between you and me, I don’t think I’ll be asking him to review my list next year.) I’ll be honest, before creating my plan, I had been praying. You know, the kind of prayer that asks God to rubber stamp all the things I had already identified should be included. After all, there were things I needed to carry over from the year before. Projects that need to be completed and good activities that I wanted to continue. So, the answer to my husband’s God question was a resounding, “I’ve checked in and me and God are good.” But then my husband’s words came back to me phrased slightly differently, “Have you taken the time to listen to God’s plan for you?” And that’s when things changed.

I took the sheet of paper, and following my husband’s wisdom, put a rough timeline around the plan. The minutes and hours piled up, confirming his concerns for the limited hours in a day. Then, I prayed. Not my original rubber stamp prayer but one that leaves you vulnerable and a little nervous. The kind of prayer that asks for God’s plan to replace your own. The one that could result in the things you’re comfortable doing to be put aside, and replaced by his will. And now I’m waiting, waiting for clarity, waiting for direction, waiting with my heart and ears open. And he has already made a few changes. Nothing radical or earth-shaking, but freeing and confirming.

I want to encourage you as you head into 2024, to include God in your planning and strategizing. It doesn’t matter if you’re considering a change in career or a change in your daily routine, a move across the country, or a move to improve your health. God’s plan will always be better than anything we can create on our own.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 (New International Version)

Perhaps if we, invite him into the process, we will save ourselves some of the grief and messiness that happens when we try and do it on our own. Perhaps it’s less about all the planning we pursue and more about taking time to listen to God. Perhaps, this year, we can focus on pursuing him and trust him to define our plans.

Be Blessed his BeLOVED,

Dear Reader,

I want to thank you for sharing 2023 with me. I have enjoyed reading your comments. They are an encouragement to my writer’s soul.

In 2024, my prayer is that my writing is a whisper, a gentle prompting, that causes you to think about God and know that you are his beloved. Our culture, and your inner critic, may try to convince you that your worth is based on your achievements, your striving, and your accomplishments. But I want to remind you that your value is not what you do. True value and worth lie in whose you are. You are enough because God made a way for you to be more than enough.

I hope you join me this year as we explore the source of real worth, Jesus.

Happy New Year!!