2017 is off to a flying start!
In church offices, the beginning of a new year is filled with things to be done. In the midst of the busy, I like to stop and give thanks for at least 5 things that happened over the past week. There is always things for which we can give praise.
1. Being so busy makes time fly!
2. I've been having a nightly cup of coffee with one of my favorite creamers. So comforting. I love my new mug.
Our daughter bought us this set of mugs. How did she know I needed the "Mrs. Always Right" one?
3. I started a new book: The Daniel Prayer by Anne Graham Lotz. I'm only 35 pages in, but I think I will get a lot out of it. I love Anne's writings!
4. We had an interesting guest speaker at church Wednesday night. I love hearing things from others' perspectives.
5. Quote of the week: (I can definitely relate)
I don’t have enough time to live my own life!… Matt Ashcraft
Follow the link to read how Matt came to focusing on One Word for the year instead of making resolutions. Interesting!
Bonus: Anticipation! Next week, Christine from Whispered Words of Wisdom and I will kick off the 2017 season of The Loft, a Christian blogging community linkup. We hope to foster conversation as well as be a place where we can all share our work. We'd love to have YOU join in. If you'd like to join us, craft a post answering the question, "What are your top 5 goals for 2017?" (or leave an answer in the comments). January 11 at 5 a.m. will be when the linkup opens. Hope to see you there!
And that wraps up the week here on the Journey. How did YOUR week go? I'd love to know! Leave a comment, or consider linking a post of your own at Susanne's space, Living to Tell the Story.
Such an appropriate graphic today - it's 14° here in the American MidWest ... Wonder what my Canadian friends are experiencing?
It's been very cold here, too, but they say things will warm up tomorrow. Sounds like the new year is raring to go. Glad you had moments to stop in the busyness.
ReplyDeleteI liked that link from Matt Ashcraft. I do agree with focusing on one word instead of a long list of perhaps impossible goals. If the right word is chosen and focused upon, I think it helps put all other things into perspective. I know concentrating on fixing my eyes on Jesus has helped me not go down paths my mind previously would when I wasn't determinedly fixing my eyes on him. Its already reduced my anxiety and helped my thought process to be more positive and focused on him rather than the problems of the world.
ReplyDeleteI too like Anne Graham Lotz. I just looked at her site the other day and saw so many Bible studies available. I'm going to be between one when I finish the one I'm doing before I start the next one in a few weeks so I grabbed one of hers to do in the interim. I'm looking forward to it!
I won't say it was close to (or perhaps at) 70 degrees today :)
betty
I just dug Anne's book out again the other day to look at something I was trying to recall. Such a challenging book!
ReplyDeleteAnd I've really missed The Loft community, so I'm looking forward to getting back together again! Thanks for being willing to accept that mantle of responsibility!
That picture for the button was taken a few years back but it is definitely appropriate for here again in Southern Alberta. We've had so much snow and fog since Christmas Eve and it's been a deep freeze for sure, in the -20's C (below -4F) for more than a month now with only the occasional break. And they are predicting a cold January. Brrr. But even though I don't like it quite that cold I do love the beauty that the hoar frost from a cold fog brings or the falling snow. My husband however, has had quite his fill of shovelling and cold.
ReplyDeleteThose mugs are cute. The store my daughter works at was selling those. I'm looking for a good non-fiction to do this year. I'll have to look that one up.
Cold! I'm a baby when it comes to cold. My daughter kept telling me that 'you get used to it'. Hmmm, I'm not so sure. It's low 50s and I'm bundled up in my SoCal home :) We lived in Chicago for four winters so I do know cold...
ReplyDeleteI love it when I'm busy and time goes faster, so I'm glad you are staying busy at work.
Those mugs are cute - my son and d-i-l have a pair with the same saying only designed a bit differently.
ReplyDeleteHere in TN they said it was going to get down to 7 degrees last night! I haven;t heard a report whether it did, but it sure was cold. I am looking forward to 40s and 50s later in the week.
I usually take one of the days after everyone goes back to work to collect my thoughts and make plans for the next year - so far that hasn't happened yet! It's been a crazy start to 2017, but I think this week should be relatively back to normal.