Reflection

It is January 2020, a time when many people will set aside time to reflect on last year, and set goals for the new one ahead.

Reflections, like the graphic above, are imperfect. 

I made the graphic in two minutes on PicMonkey. If I had wanted it to be perfect, I could have spent 25 minutes with a high-tech Adobe program that actually has mirroring as an option. I point this out because too many of us will take five or ten minutes to reflect on last year and get an imperfect report on what happened in 2019. Then we'll stop thinking and reflecting because we won't like what we see.

If you take time to reflect this January, I challenge you to actually take time: an hour, then another, maybe even a couple of afternoons to really think back on where you have been, what God has accomplished, and how you have grown.

I've been using a set of questions to help me reflect on what happened in 2019, before I set goals for 2020. It has been hard work. There was a question this afternoon that I struggled with. It said "those who love me call me____." I wasn't sure how others describe me, so I went and asked my girls. One said "mom." Ugh - that was no help at all. I appreciated that she still wants to spend time with me as her mom, but I needed something more. I asked the other girl...she was more descriptive, and that gave me something to work from. Friends call me creative. My friend's husband calls me Stupid-smart. I know he means it as a compliment. I get it. I'm not the normal mom, not a normal wife, not a normal co-worker. 

So where does this all lead me? Back to the foot of the cross. I find my acceptance and worth in what Jesus has done for me, not in what I've done for the world. You see, the world says I'm under qualified. It repeatedly tells me that I don't have a college degree, and thus, am not enough. But I have become wise to the ways the world tries to pull us down. Jesus has said that I am more than qualified, because of Him, because I'm not doing ANY of this life without HIS wisdom and strength. 

I'm going to circle back around to that first response my daughter gave "mom." For 22 years I have loved, planned, corrected, project managed, taught, refined, budgeted, written, erased, build, dug deep, refocused, travelled, stayed put, withstood storms, and filled life with joy. At the foot of the cross I am more than qualified to do WHATEVER God calls me to for 2020 and beyond. 

I bet you are too!

So now, feel free to do some reflecting of your own. Think about 2019, it's challenges and joys, and look forward to 2020, knowing that God will equip you with all you need and more. 

My goal is to reflect the light of Jesus to all those around me, whether they're expecting it or not. 

May your 2020 be filled with peace, joy, purpose, and most of all: Jesus!