Ah, a new year. How I love January 1. It is the day of new beginnings, with the year stretching before me like a plain, with no obstructions as far as the eye can see.
To this unobstructed landscape I’ve been asking God to help me add in the things of life according to His leading. I’ve been considering my previous commitments and interests, asking God to nudge me according to what He would me to put my heart and hands to in the year ahead.
Most New Year’s resolutions focus upon the external facets of life: getting in shape or securing a promotion or something of that nature. I’ve had plenty of those sorts of goals in years past.
In recent years, however, there is one goal on my list that has pushed all these to lower priority: knowing God’s Word. Each year, I am prompted to make the Word a greater priority in my daily life. By this I do not mean the mere reading of it so I can check it off my list. The desire is to live by the Word, to live with the Word made flesh: Emmanuel, God with me.
As I have put my focus on the Living Word, many of my other goals have come to fruition—or the desire for them has dissipated. For example, for years I knew that my lack of regular exercise and poor eating were adding up. But change was shallow until I turned to God for help and He exposed the root as a lack of discipline and a lust for constant comfort. (Who knew?!) The problem wasn’t merely physical: It was a heart issue. The past year I have prayed that God would strengthen my resolve and stretch my pain tolerance. He helped me as I committed to start running again, which served as the framework for changing my heart. The end result? I have walked (run!) with God over the past year, and He has grown me in running to Him for comfort and resolve—all this by focusing on God.
Placing my gaze steadily on God has changed me. And I want to know Him all the more because of it! So I am thrilled to have the encouragement of another Mega Memory Month (MMM), hosted by Ann Kroeker, to spur me on to training my brain to focus on the goodness of God. For this challenge, MMM4, I’ve decided to focus on two portions of Scripture that I have been regularly drawn to as of late: Colossians 2:6–15 and Ephesians 6:10–18.
MMM is your opportunity to engage your brain by selecting something of interest to commit to memory. In previous MMM challenges, I’ve memorized Scripture, poetry, states and capitals, and even reviewed French vocabulary.
There’s plenty of time to join the challenge! Simply sign in at MMM HQ, detailing your memorization goals. MMM HQ provides all the details, as well as great tips and hints for getting your brain in shape.
Let’s get brain buff in 2010!
