A New Year’s Prayer As We Plan


What does the Lord have for our families in the coming year? What can we ask of him as he leads us? These prompts are a great way to pause and pray before the new year begins. Come sit and seek the face of God for your family.We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. –Aristotle

What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. –John Ruskin

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. –Will Rogers

A goal without a plan is just a wish. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

We’ve heard it a million times: the reminders that planning is non-negotiable. The shelves are full to bursting, kiosks set up in the mall for one sole purpose: to provide the perfect tool with which to plan out the new year. Empty spaces just begging to be filled in, blank cyberspace surrendering to keyboard, pure white paper abandoned to flowing blue ink.  A new year–even grander than Anne Shirley’s “new day, with no mistakes in it yet”–365 of those promising beauties, ripe for the picking.  We may be hesitant or enthusiastic, but either way, plan we must.
We are all busy and I’m certain there are a plethora of commitments clamoring for ownership of your white spaces, too.  Might I encourage both of us to stop for a moment or two, before we begin the ruthless filling of the squares of days and months that will make up the next year?
Breathe deep.  Put the pen/keyboard/planner/calendar down for a bit and ponder the days already past. We should first answer a few questions …

What went well this year?  What am I most proud of?  What should I have done differently?  What do I wish I would have done?  How was my time most well-spent?  What can I see the results of having done previously, today? How can I encourage my children to grow this year?  How can I build the relationships most important to me? How can I draw closer to my spouse?  What does he or she need from me, specifically, in the coming year?

Before work and church and school and ministry and sports and community events elbow their way onto those blank pages, remind yourself that you are master of your time, and God the master of you. Which means that, perhaps, the most important question of all is the one we reserve for Him …Lord, what would you have me do with this wonderful gift, this new year?

How will you make room for the Lord in your life in 2016?

Your calendar is a fabulous place to start!

My prayer for us all, from Psalm 90:12: “Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.”

Happy 2016!

Blessings, Misty Krasawski

Similar Posts