I never realised how many babies there where until my wife got pregnant.
Nothing prepared me for the sheer quantity of pregnant women & small children in crazy, non-steer yellow trolley-truck thingys that I suddenly saw in Tesco’s. And since September I’ve noticed nappy adverts, “Baby on Board” stickers & the price of toys for the first time.
These new observations have astonished me. Have I been blind to this all along or had it just not registered?
This has led to a first New Year Resolution in ages.
You see I’m not that big into NYR’s. I don’t understand why resetting the calendar fills us with so much unfounded hope that we’ll shift the bingo wings, befriend sunrise for jogging & meditation and procrastinate less on FaceBook… I mean give me two weeks & I’ll be back to a low-veg diet, booing joggers, snoozing instead of praying & addicted to WordTwist.
However, NYR’s are a good reminder that we’re not perfect; that there’s stuff about our lives that needs to change; that we want to be better or at least different. And this year rather than set a pie-in-the-sky high bar challenge, I’m trying to involve God in the NYR process - which leads me back to the baby observations.
I feel that God is calling me to notice Him more. To realise that He is around (even when I’m blind to His presence) and make a conscious effort to look for Him in everyday life - including the irritating teenager, the traffic jam situation or the failed ministry opportunity.
To steal a John Ortberg title, “God is closer than you think” so my NYR is to look a little more intently for His daily presence in the mundane, monotonous & frustrating, rather than just in the spectacular & unique.
Anyone else got a NYR?
Nothing prepared me for the sheer quantity of pregnant women & small children in crazy, non-steer yellow trolley-truck thingys that I suddenly saw in Tesco’s. And since September I’ve noticed nappy adverts, “Baby on Board” stickers & the price of toys for the first time.
These new observations have astonished me. Have I been blind to this all along or had it just not registered?
This has led to a first New Year Resolution in ages.
You see I’m not that big into NYR’s. I don’t understand why resetting the calendar fills us with so much unfounded hope that we’ll shift the bingo wings, befriend sunrise for jogging & meditation and procrastinate less on FaceBook… I mean give me two weeks & I’ll be back to a low-veg diet, booing joggers, snoozing instead of praying & addicted to WordTwist.
However, NYR’s are a good reminder that we’re not perfect; that there’s stuff about our lives that needs to change; that we want to be better or at least different. And this year rather than set a pie-in-the-sky high bar challenge, I’m trying to involve God in the NYR process - which leads me back to the baby observations.
I feel that God is calling me to notice Him more. To realise that He is around (even when I’m blind to His presence) and make a conscious effort to look for Him in everyday life - including the irritating teenager, the traffic jam situation or the failed ministry opportunity.
To steal a John Ortberg title, “God is closer than you think” so my NYR is to look a little more intently for His daily presence in the mundane, monotonous & frustrating, rather than just in the spectacular & unique.
Anyone else got a NYR?
1 comment:
For thoughts on attentiveness, check out The Mockingbird's Leap. Much of the archive is worth reading.
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