The new year sometimes doesn’t feel safe for me anymore. I find myself bracing for what may come instead of walking in the knowledge of God’s faithfulness. But we can stop bracing. Our Shepherd is near.

I have a habit of looking back. And what I see there in the distant and not-so-distant past is helping me to live intentionally now. I am learning the art of looking back and pressing on.

We aren’t breathing like we’re supposed to. We aren’t drinking deeply. We are missing out on the abundance Jesus offers us. So I’m establishing some holy rhythms to help me live. I hope you’ll join me!

I’ve served at a lot of camps. And I’ve taken part in a lot of worship services. But seeing my own child lift his hand in worship was a stark reminder of how important my own worship of Jesus is in the life of my children. My worship overflows onto them, either pointing them to Jesus or to myself.

I’ve spent a lot of time chasing my own dreams apart from Jesus. And those dreams usually wind up covered in dust or eaten by moths, just like cheap plastic trophies. May knowing Christ be the only trophy—our greatest prize.

Rest has been on my heart for a long time, probably because I have struggled with finding it. Neglecting real spiritual rest always leads to the neglect of our souls. We were designed with a need to pause, and it can look more practical than we think.

Jealousy robs us of so much. It leads to comparison and causes us to lose sight of all God wants to do in us and through us. But what if we fix our eyes on Jesus? What if we stop looking side to side at what everyone else is doing to serve Him? What could God do with our humble hearts when we learn to cheer for others?

There’s a pull to seek validation from others in the way we serve God. There’s this allure of a spotlight. But what we do daily, in the seemingly mundane moments, matters so much more than what we do publicly. God sees your faithfulness in the small things. And He delights in it.

Maybe we’ve glamorized the big stuff. Maybe we’ve allowed comparison to rob us of the joy which comes from giving God what little we have and allowing Him to use it and multiply it. God uses the little. The small. And He delights in our obedience.

I took off a necklace I’ve worn for three years. It’s tarnished and entirely changed from when I first put it on. But so am I —transformed and marked by grief and God’s goodness.

Maybe if we return to childlike faith, maybe if we approach our Father like children, we’ll know Him more. We’ll know His goodness and His kindness and His love. And then maybe this will transform our lives into a beautiful display of obedience.

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself;

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.”

—John Donne

If I’m honest, I know I don’t fully grasp God’s great love for us. On the blog this week, I share about a comment from my five-year-old which made me pause and take in just how much God loves us.

A brand new year can come a lot of uncertainty. It’s a fresh page—a new beginning. But sometimes we face the reality of things we never expected. The one thing we can rest on is that God is ever-present and always good—in every season.

The wise men fell down and worshiped Jesus when they beheld Him, offering gifts fit for royalty. What better gift can we bring Jesus than our adoration!

The wonderful wonder about our God is that He choses to make Himself known to the outcast, the unimportant, and the unfaithful. When God announced the birth of the Savior, He did so to shepherds in a lonely field. Maybe we are more like these men than we’ve ever realized.

If your Christmas feels more painful than jolly, know this: God is near.

For so long, God’s people lived in silence and darkness as a result of their wandering away from Him. But Christ shatters the silence, ushering in a new light—the Light of the world.

Over the years, I became familiar with Jesus’s birth. It somehow became common. Familiarity robs us of wonder because it makes us stop seeing the miracle. But wonder leads to worship. Let’s let our hearts remember the wonder of the One who came here—Immanuel.

It’s easy to look at the Israelites and criticize their idolatry. But when we look at the motive behind their worship of a golden calf, maybe we will see our own motives as well. We serve a God who is worthy of our praise and affection. We are created to worship Him. And nothing will ever satisfy this need placed deep in our hearts by the Creator Himself.