Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Resolutions?


New Year's Resolutions...I used to make them and break them before month's end! Follow the Zone diet, do my pilates, pray more diligently, have a more consistent quiet time. This year, I'm no longer seeing these things as "wants" but as "needs". If I am to function at all, these disciplines are musts - habits that I have to weave into the very fabric of my daily living.

I have to remember that weaving is a gradual process. One thread is added at a time - in and out - the weft becomes entwined with the warp. Each day - day in and day out- that I practice the disciplines I know the Lord has for me, I become more entwined with Him. He, the lengthwise fibers that give the fabric strength. Me, the crosswise ones that add the color and texture...the uniqueness. In most projects involving fibers, there are times when you have to rip it all out and start over. Remove the flaw and try again. Just like in our Christian walk, our repentance and Christ's forgiveness remove the mess ups and give us glorious do-overs. Thank you Father that you are Jehovah Raphah: He who mends by stitching!

So I guess I don't really have any new resolutions this year. Just to keep cooperating with the Master Weaver and allow myself to become the tapestry He desires to create.

1 comment:

Julie said...

Cinde,

I, too, am a resolution maker! I anticipate and look forward to a new year for days! (I also tend to hound those near and dear to me about their resolutions.) This year, a friend sent me the following... and, this year, it is my only resolution.

Love,

Julie

Taken from William MacDonald's devotional book, "One Day at a Time":

New Year's resolutions are good but fragile, that is, easily broken. New Year's prayers are better; they ascend to the throne of God and set answering wheels in motion. As we come to the beginning of another year, we would do well to make the following prayer requests our own:

Lord Jesus, I rededicate myself afresh to You today. I want You to take my life this coming year and use it for Your glory.

I pray that You will keep me from sin, from anything that will bring dishonor to Your Name.

Keep me teachable by the Holy Spirit. I want to move forward for You. Don't let me settle in a rut.

May my motto this year be, "He must increase; I must decrease." The glory must all be Yours. Help me not to touch it.

Teach me to make every decision a matter of prayer. I dread the thought of leaning on my own understanding. "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jer. 10:23).

May I die to the world and even to the approval or blame of loved ones or friends. Give me a single, pure desire to do the things that please Your heart.

Keep me from gossip and criticism of others. Rather, help me to speak what is edifying and profitable.

Lead me to needy souls. May I become a friend of sinners, as You are. Give me tears of compassion for the perishing.

Lord Jesus, keep me from becoming cold, bitter, or cynical in spite of anything that may happen to me in the Christian life.

Guide me in my stewardship of money. Help me to be a good steward of everything You have entrusted to me.

Help me to remember moment by moment that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. May this tremendous truth influence all my behavior.

And, Lord Jesus, I pray that this may be the year of Your return. I long to see Your face and to fall at Your feet in worship. During the coming year, may the blessed hope stay fresh in my heart, disengaging me from anything that would hold me here and keeping me on the tiptoes of expectancy. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"