Freedom

We can’t know what’s ahead. Live today well.

So why do I spend so much time and energy propping up perfection for tomorrow? I’m weary from the weight and worry. Do you relate?!?

My word for 2020 is freedom.

I want to be more intentional to live in freedom because I want to be less bound up in the opinion of others. I’ve found I put too much value on what other people think of me.

I quickly and subtly can mistakenly believe that what other people think of me defines me whether with approval or lack of approval. I know this is false. Yet this is an area I struggle. So this year I seek to be more free from this validation roller coaster.

I want to be free from the hustle… I’ve put so much effort in growing an audience, growing numbers, having a social impact. I know there’s value in this when it serves my mission of encouraging others and bringing hope. But when it serves myself, it fails. I can’t do this for accolades and pats on the back. It will never fill an identity void.

So this year I seek to live in freedom from the pressure to prove my own greatness. Instead, I want to embody the freedom of a life that points to God‘s greatness.

The arbitrary ‘ought-to’s’ can so easily bog us down. There are subtle cultural pressures and formulas that promise results but rather bring emptiness and weariness. I choose to lay it down.

“Who the Son sets free is free indeed.” 

Freedom is both an invitation and a choice. It’s already offered to us. It’s not something we attain to; it’s something we rest in. Are you weary too?

There’s an intentional freedom and a steadfast freedom. We constantly exist in this reality, yet I’m far from constantly aware of it.

I want to be more aware of what is true and real.

May this be a year of being more aware of the freedom that’s extended to each of us with a great invitation of stewarding it for the good of others.

Life is short. The time here so precious and fleeting. Oh Lord open our eyes and hearts to more fully conceive and understand the great invitation You’ve extended.