For What It's Worth, My Thoughts on a New Year

I remember ringing in 2010. I was so excited to embrace a new year. There was not an ounce of apprehension, fear, or questioning in my bones. In fact, I knew from the start that 2010 was going to be a great year. And you know what? It really was. From the beginning 2010 was like a kindred spirit who I meshed with immediately.

I cannot say that I have the same sort of well-wishing optimism about 2011. I'm coming into this new year (and in fact new decade!) with a lot on my mind.

I have something in my life that is broken and in desperate need of supernatural repair.
I've got a sense of my calling but no framework to see how it can be put into practical, day to day use.
Dusty and I have bills to pay and very little money to pay them with.
I'm burnt out with the whole church scene; more burnt out than I've ever been before.
This is the year that one of mine and Dusty's deepest desires can be fulfilled, but there's the ever-looming question of, "will it?"

For me 2011 is like a new acquaintance: I'm not too sure how we will get along. I'd rather have my old friend 2010 back. She was so pleasant and easy.

At any rate, I feel the Lord has directly spoken to me out of Philippians 4 today and given instructions for how to deal with the unfriendly terms I've found myself on with 2011:

"Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." (from The Message)

I don't think I could ask anything more from the Lord this year than to experience his wholeness. If that's all 2011 were to bring me I will find myself very full indeed.