2013!

Image: Emily McDowell found via Camille Styles (a favorite blog of mine!)

This morning I woke up nice and early at 5:30, which is ironic because it's the first morning LJ has not woken up at 5:30 post-vacation. Most early mornings (especially these days) I find I'm so exhausted I fall right back asleep until I'm forced to drag myself out of bed and get miss Lorelei up, but today I tossed and turned for about 30 minutes with a million thoughts racing through my head. Something about the first day of a new year seems like it needs urgent attention!

As 2012 came to an end, of course I found myself reflecting on the year and what I hope and dream for 2013. 2012 was a year of change for me, and for our little family, in a spiritual sense. Having found an amazing church community in Nashville, over the last year Jordan and I have taken a head-first dive into the gospel message and what it means for us as Christians. Rather than overlook it as a message for people who haven't come to know Jesus, we have begun to see it as the central place from which our lives spring out. The gospel, the message of Jesus Christ coming to earth as a means of salvation for all who believe, is what drives us daily and guides our purposes large and small.

There are definitely things I'd like to do better this year‑I have already been working on my calendar of important dates and stockpiling cards, etc...so I can finally be the person who isn't sending that birthday card a week late! I would definitely like to get into an exercise routine post-baby, something that seems nearly impossible with our lifestyle but would benefit my health for sure. Learn to use Quickbooks, which has been installed on my computer for at least 6 months, so that our 2013 taxes aren't so dreadful. Be more consistent overall in my study and memorization of the Word. I'm sure there are more, but what I really want to focus on this year is the hope of gospel change‑not the hope of a fresh start, new planner, blank pages in a pretty notebook, new baby, or any of that. 

What I think God is speaking to my heart this year as I seek what HE has for 2013 is that all of the "newness" that I find so motivating and refreshing right now is simply a small taste of the gospel. The breath of fresh air that Jesus provides us‑not just daily, but moment by moment‑is something I can access at any time, in any place, and through any circumstance. Looking ahead, I can already foresee some possible and probable challenges I'll face in 2013. Resolution won't get me through another year. Hoping, willing myself to do better won't change who I am at the heart. Wanting to be a better wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, customer, stranger, etc.. won't make me someone I like more than I like my current self. Only standing firm on the truth of the gospel, knowing that my value flows directly from my status as a forgiven, redeemed, bought and paid for child of Christ who has inherited his right standing with God will help me evict the sin nature I battle and replace it with a reflection of the glory of God.

I hope the first day of this new year finds you filled with the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May 2013 be a year during which the gospel message transforms us and our communities in an unprecedented way.