Was just thinking, “Man, do I ever have a lot to tell Jesus this year.” I set aside the days between Christmas & January 1st every year for giving way to very deliberate reflection on the previous 12 months of my walk with Christ. Then 1st thing every New Year’s Day I open my new
journal & write him a long letter looking back on the last year— The highlights & heartbreaks & surprises, both good & bad. Things I never could have seen coming. I write knowing he knows but I do this to keep a record of remembrance and also because the Holy Spirit never fails
to give me insight into some of those very things I record as I write them. The practice helps me sort things out. Then I turn my attention to the coming year and record my hopes and dreams and prayers and fears and make bold petitions for my people & for myself. I have years and
years and stacks and stacks of these. I can go back & look at any day or week’s entry or I can take the shortcut to the 1 new year entry & see the recap of the previous 12 months. This is one of the dearest, most meaningful spiritual disciplines the Lord has taught me. I share it
with you in case you don’t have a particular practice for the new year. It’s not very original but, let me tell you, as years accrue, you realize the ink of these preserved records of God‘s faithfulness & your trek through thistle & thorn with him was liquid gold. I always end
the practice by flipping thru the blank pages & professing my faith: that, no matter what gets recorded the next 52 weeks—joys, pains, losses, gains—I can count on this: Jesus will be with me & my loves. He will be so good to us. He will not stop loving us. And he will carry us.
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