"Once we clearly acknowledge the soul, we can learn to hear it's cries. - Dallas Willard, Renovation Of The Heart."

It takes courage to pursue our dreams. It takes time and patience to unearth buried treasure. But I believe with all my heart that we must do both.

1.02.2014

Looking forward


We all have ideas and hopes for what a new year could bring...but I have found that seldom does it unfold as we expect.

A friend of mine received a new year letter from a friend. I asked if I could share it with all of you.  

May it encourage and bless you as you ease into a brand new year. 


It’s that time of year again – time to ring in the New Year with dramatic resolutions fueled by the hope of immediate and significant personal life change.

Let’s be honest. The reality is that few smokers actually quit because of a single moment of resolve. Few obese people become slim and healthy because of one dramatic moment of commitment. Few people deeply in debt change their financial lifestyle because they resolve to do so as the old year gives way to the new. Few marriages change by the means of one dramatic resolution.

Is change important? Yes, it is for all of us in some way. Is commitment essential? Of course! There’s a way in which all our lives are shaped by the commitments we make. But biblical Christianity – which has the gospel of Jesus Christ at its heart – simply doesn’t rest its hope in big, dramatic moments of change.

The fact of the matter is that the transforming work of grace is more of a mundane process than it is a series of a few dramatic events. Personal heart and life change is always a process. And where does that process take place? It takes place where you and I live everyday. And where do we live? We all have the same address – the utterly mundane.

I don’t want to discourage you from making a resolution or tell you to throw away what you’ve already written, but I do want to challenge your way of thinking. You see, the character of your life won’t be established in two or three dramatic moments, but in 10,000 little moments. Your legacy will be shaped more by the 10,000 little decisions you make in 2014 rather than the last-minute resolution you’re about to make.

Jesus is Emmanuel not just because he came to earth, but because he makes you the place where he dwells. This means he is present and active in all the mundane moments of your daily life. In these small moments he is delivering every redemptive promise he has made to you. In these unremarkable moments, he is working to rescue you from you and transform you into his likeness.

By sovereign grace he places you in daily little moments that are designed to take you beyond your character, wisdom and grace so that you’ll seek the help and hope that can only be found in him. In a lifelong process of change, he is undoing you and rebuilding you again – exactly what each one of us needs!

Yes, you and I need to be committed to change in 2014, but not in a way that hopes for a big event of transformation, but in a way that finds joy in and is faithful to a day-by-day, step-by-step process of insight, confession, repentance and faith.

As 2013 gives way to 2014, wake up each day committed to live in the 10,000 little moments of your daily life with open eyes and humbly expectant hearts.

God bless you and yours in 2014!

Paul David Tripp, David Tripp Ministries


8 comments:

Kathryn Zbrzezny said...

I believe in every moment, in being, in being connected to one another, to the universe, and in God and in Light. Peace to you, Mary, in 2014.

cathy parmelee said...

Have a blessed 2014!! xoxo

Unknown said...

Oh Mary! How I love this post....truly I do! Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing this.

Hindsfeet said...

thank you Mary-Girl......

I wish for you a happy year, truly....that *happy* is one of the defining characteristics of 2014.....

...thanks for your wish for me too....

much love always,
liz~*

Amy smith said...

Yes! This is so very true. I was trying to explain this very idea to my kids the other day when they were talking about resolutions. We can set our intentions, but the real work is in the one day or moment at a time choices we make in how we walk it out.

Jennifer Richardson said...

Yes, yes, a million times yes.
Thanks for this nourishing stir
and for all the life and love
you share:)
-Jennifer

Kim Mailhot said...

My word for the year are "Be Here Now." I think there is a lot of positive energy around this practice right now. The world needs it so as do our own spirits.
May 2014 be the Year of Living in the Now for all of us.
Love and light, Mary !

Mollye said...

Happy New Year to you and yours dear Mary. And thank you for bringing it to our attention that as Christians we change moment by moment as God is not finished with us yet and we must keep on striving for more of what He wants us to be. God Bless.