Word of the YearSample

Longings in the Stillness

Yesterday we looked back and remembered. Today we slowly turn to what lies ahead. In this new beginning, do you feel the urge to run ahead and jump right in? Or do you feel like shrinking, the need to brace for this year? Or perhaps something else? What if today is a day to be still, breathe in deeply, and exhale fully? Pause. Stillness. Quiet. And begin to listen to your heart. Take the temperature of your heart, mind, soul, and body at this place and time, at this beginning. What is coming up for you as you sit and pause? How does it feel in your body (chest, belly, neck)? What emotions stir in your heart? What comes to mind as you turn your gaze to the year ahead.

You are not alone today as you stand here on the precipice of the future. God is our Emmanuel, our God With Us. The psalmists speak of how God knows our longings and that he satisfies our desires with good things. Sometimes we don’t know what we deeply long for. We may know we want a certain job or home or relationship, but what lies under the surface of that? Often we silence our desires and sequester them away, naming them unholy.

What if it's not our desires that are unholy, but where we take them that is unhealthy, and not what we were made for? Our amazing Trinity God knit his holy desires in our heart - we desire love, safety, joy, and belonging in relationships. We long to bring our glory and goodness to our place in the world, to our work - in what makes us come alive, making a genuine difference. We long to be known, seen, valued for who we are.

Let’s get somewhere comfortable to continue being still with God and ask him to shine a light on those deep desires and longings that we wonderfully bring into this year. May he help us see our hearts and minds as they are, right here, what they have endured and what we feel deeply as we gaze into the fog that may obscure the path forward.

Are you aware of your deep longings, desires, hopes, and dreams? As you journal today, consider various realms of your life: your physical, emotional, and mental health, your relationships - with family, friends, with God and with others, your work, and other areas - writing down all that comes to mind.

As you ponder all this with God today, consider asking Him:

Father, what desires have you sown deep in my heart? What makes me really come alive?

Jesus, would you highlight some of my hopes and dreams for this coming year?

Spirit, what deep longings have long been dormant in my story? Where have I shut down longings or dreams?