A New Year

I realize January is almost over and many people have long since dropped their new year's resolution, but I'm just getting around to processing mine. So, bear with me...this isn't technically a resolution, but rather a change in perspective.

this picture has nothing to do with the post, but I had to include a picture

About a week before Christmas Sawyer asked a few seemingly simple questions. As I contemplated my response I was struck by the profoundness and timeliness of these questions (at that time we were focused on the Advent season and Christ's birth). His out of the blue questions were:

Why do we have hands?
Why do we have a voice?

As I thought about my response I began with the simple answer (so we can talk to each other, etc). Then I attempted to expound further as I explained how God created hands to do His work and he created voices so we could worship Him and proclaim His name to the world. It was a quick moment in time and I pray that I used it as a teachable moment. Sawyer was quickly distracted and proceeded his typical jumping off the walls or Lego building.

But I couldn't get his questions out of my head. Thanks to my (then) 4 year old son as we prepared to celebrate Christ's birth I was struck by Christ's entrance into the world, how he lived his life and used his hands and voice to glorify his Father!

So with that theme in mind my new years goal is to practically use my hands (service to others) and voice (glorify God, proclaim his name, be kind and encouraging with my words, etc) for His glory!

my favorite people

I realize this goal is somewhat abstract, but I'm trying to put it in practice at home with humble service to my family and taking advantage of those teachable moments with my children. I also want to model this for my children, so during the Lenten season we will be doing a random act of kindness each day. Several of my FB friends did this during the Christmas season and I thought it was a great idea, but in all honesty I was trying to keep our Christmas season simple this year, so we could focus on our family Advent time each evening. But I loved the idea and it fits perfectly with demonstrating the hands and voice of Jesus to others. So I'm looking forward to putting together a calendar for our random acts of kindness and my prayer is that it will turn into a joyful habit we all have!

Lord, thank you for sending your son to this earth. Thank you for the example of his hands and his voice. May my hands and voice be a reflection of His light!