Hello, friend. How was your Christmas and New Year Break? It is now February, and I have had a wonderful Summer with my family, which included seeing our Littlest Miss start crawling, and start dancing (she does this funny one-handed air pump) and oh, how it warms my heart seeing how she enjoys a good beat.
It also included moving into our own home, which has been a bit hectic but such an answer to prayer! It feels like the last few years of renting has caused this build-up of homeward creativity, and now that we are in our home, Dave and I are looking forward to doing a few renovations over the next few years to put our ‘stamp’ on the place. At the moment our home has dusty pink walls and reddish pink carpet (it actually brings back memories of my childhood bedroom) and so looking forward to the possibilities here to bring it into line with current design over the next few years. I am also looking forward to getting back into gardening with my Little Guy.
And our Little Miss went off to school 5 days a week. I am so grateful for the Christian School she is able to attend, and after doing their Pre-Kindy program last year, she has settled in beautifully. Our Little Guy is about to turn 3 (I can’t quite believe it!), meaning he will be off to Pre-Kindy next year which has reinforced how quickly the kiddies grow.
It also has reinforced how important this job of parenting is and how while we have some really tough days, the seasons change and before we know it, we will be missing these little years. My heart’s deepest desire and prayer is that my kiddies will grasp how high and wide and long and deep is the love our Father has for them.
And so, another year begins and the cogs start working and routines are established. I love a new year. There is a freshness, a beauty, a hope, an expectation and countless possibilities.
Over the last month, as I have packed boxes and unpacked boxes, as I have cleaned, as I have played with the kids, as we had special family time, the verse that remained in my mind is a prayer of Moses’:
“So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
As a new year begins, I usually spend time praying through this verse, asking God to direct my steps and commitments. If I don’t take time to pause, take time to reflect, take time to assess, life just rolls on through. And so I stop, not on some amazing mountaintop retreat or isolated island getaway (one day maybe…), but at a location much more mundane- often at my clothesline or in the shower. I talk to God and ask that He would grant me wisdom, recognising that our days are numbered.
I am excited about what God is going to do. For he is a God that works. In my little nest, God is working and in the wider world, he is too. And for whatever season I am in, whatever tasks he lays at my doorstep, may I have this heart of wisdom. May you and may I, recognise the joys and the trials for what they are this year. May our souls make time to drink deeply from the well of his word, and may we enjoy him as we live out our days this year.
My prayer for this year, is that I would have the room in my schedule to show love in action. To genuinely reach out to those in my family and in my life, so that God’s gracious love would be made known to others. And first and foremost, that I would make time to Love God, for we need to be taught how to number our days and how to have a heart of wisdom.
