I love new beginnings. 2013, filled with dreams, possibilities and wishes. Resolutions, plans, desires. I need new beginnings to remind me that there is more, and that I ought to reach for it. Reach for direction, purpose, goal. This is what makes me tick, what gives me wings.

But life has taught me a thing or two about myself, and sometimes, I don’t like what I see. Like my getting crushed emotionally as the days go by and my determination peters out, or my passionate resolve weakening as time lingers on, or the wound of failure opening up once again after they have barely scared.

My weaknesses disgust me. They tell me that I am a loser.

So as this brand spanking new year stands in front of me, I wondered if it is inviting me to take on a new challenge and win, or teasing me, knowing that I will lose anyway. And I wonder how to juggle my need for goals to reach and purpose to live fully with the understanding of how dangerous these can be for me.

Until I turned to Him.

He always knows best.  He made me. He knows how I work.  I can trust His guidance.

“Live in the Now,” I heard Him whisper.  

Not in the lofty goals for a calendar year, or a month or a week, but in the very moments of my day. Not moments actually, but moment.

In the focused care for the now.

The now I am in right this very second. In the joy of a job well done right now. In the purity of a smile given fully. In the reality of right now.

In the fullness of life.

And all of a sudden, my answer is as clear as a crisp fall morning.

My heart fills with joy, because I know that I am known.  I know that nothing is hidden from Him, because I realize that my dilemma is nothing to Him, because I see that He can make what I need to know to live fully today obvious to me.

So that I can live in the now.

And I see that it has already started, this living in the moment.

Cultivating Thankfulness with Ann Voskamp 

#419 Realizing that a new year offers me new possibilities

#418 Waking up to hope once more

#417 Planning my son’s wedding with joy and peace

#416 Bread baking and filling the house with its amazing aroma

Sometimes, I link up with any or all of these wonderful writers: Hearts 4 Home, SDG,  Hearts Reflected, WLW, EOA, Things I can’t say, Growing Home, Play Dates with God, Monday Musings, Hear it on Sunday, Inspire Me Monday, Tell me a Story, The Better Mom, a Mama’s Story, Into the Word, In and Around Mondays,OYHT, Gratituesday, Titus2Tuesdays, Extraordinay, Lessons from Ivy, Denise in Bloom, Sweet Blessings, Faith Filled Friday, Finding Joy