Thirty days isn’t a long time! But it’s long enough!
I just went through a quick study of the last 30 days of my life. I encourage you to consider your life over the last 30 days.
You could ask questions like:
- Are you where you thought you’d be? Did you set goals for yourself and did you work your plan for those goals? or did they go by the wayside like lot’s of New Year’s Resolutions?
- Did you tell anyone about the goals you had for yourself? Were you willing to be accountable to what you hoped to accomplish?
- What were the obstacles that got in your way? Did you anticipate them or did they surprise you?
I know that style of evaluating life is popular with many. You may be one of those. Especially if you are task oriented and working hard toward a goal. I’m not saying I don’t do that at times in my life- it’s important to ask these questions.
But this time I only asked ONE Question: What did you notice?
The challenge came from Job, the book of Job! I was reading in the message version and this was what I woke up too as if it was spoken to me.
“Job, are you listening? Have you noticed all this? Stop in your tracks! Take in God’s miracle-wonders! Do you have any idea how God does it all?
Job’s friend Elihu was waxing eloquent as we often do when we are trying to speak into someone else’s suffering without fully empathizing in their grief. Even though he was missing the point of the moment, he actually said some pretty amazing things. This passage was one of those!
Kathy, are you listening? Have you NOTICED all this?
STOP in your tracks!
TAKE IN God’s miracle wonders!
So I stopped! And I started to write down things I have NOTICED. A lot has happened in 30 days. God has opened my eyes to the many ways I have settled for living broken. He has/ is bringing healing to my life- body, mind, heart and soul.
- I got to experience the 20 year old dream come true- Linda Dillow and Juli Slattery came to share their message of hope to our world.
- I’ve led worship twice this month. That is huge since I haven’t lead worship in years.
- I took part in a writing class that not only gave me direction in writing, but caused me to dig deep into my story.
- I have met some incredible people, especially women in the last 5 weeks and I’m seeing amazing ways our stories and gifts empower and support one another.
- I have experienced a fresh hope: in my marriage, in my relationships with my girls, in my ministry, in my journey.
A LOT has happened in 30 days.
So as I look ahead to these next 30 days, which puts us at Thanksgiving Day, I choose to intentionally design hope. I have been challenged to write everyday- at least 500 words. So I’m taking that challenge. Even if I just take a picture of something and describe what I see.
In the next 30 days I will write what I NOTICE everyday!
What about you? What is your 30 day challenge? By Thanksgiving, what will you have accomplished? Or perhaps your challenge is to eliminate something.
Join me! Leave a comment and share what challenge you are accepting. We can hold each other accountable.