More in 2024

Every new year I try to come up with a catchy slogan to represent my good intentions for renewing my faith in Him during the new year. I remember 'Dwell in 2012" where I spent more time in His presence by dwelling on Him and in Him daily. For 2005, my catchy slogan was "Thrive in 2005'. That year I learned to thrive by depending on Him daily.

Well, this year God has laid on my heart, 'More in 2024'. I want more of Him. More of His Presence. More peace. More inspiration. More focus on His Word. More purpose. More contentment. More faith. More unconditional love. More obedience. More of whatever He desires to place in me so I can stay in His Will. My prayer is that I will stay in His will and not in His way!

Making resolutions for a new year are pretty common and done with the best of intentions. However, life happens and the enthusiasm to endure tends to fade over time. Big and lofty resolutions can set you up for failure, so the best approach is making smaller, daily resolutions. By the end of the day, you will feel successful and joyful over every small step.

Here are some ideas to pick from, maybe choosing a different one each day:

• Read one chapter in the Bible daily

• Pray in the morning when you get up that God will guide your steps

• At night, pray thankfully for all of the blessings He bestowed on you that day and for the things He protected you from

• Perform one random act of kindness every day

• Pick one person and pray for that person to find God's peace and presence in their life

• Call a shut-in and wish them a good day

• Smile at a stranger and tell them to have a blessed day

So you are ready with your New Year mini-resolutions. Then, a slap of reality occurs and you realize it is back to work. Ugh! You may become depressed or anxious about going to work tomorrow. As you sit there dreading the return to the busy work schedule and rising early every day, don't panic. Dreading is the worse part of anything! Remember, God blessed you with the talent you need to do your job. He provides all you need to get to work and back home safely.

Let's think about work from a different perspective. Your work environment is the mission field that God choose for you to do His work at this point in time. In John 4, it says to "lift up your eyes and look at the field, for they are ripe for harvest." God has prepared the field, your mission field, and the people in it. He just needs you to help harvest them for His Kingdom!

In preparation for having the best perspective for going back to work, I decided to seek out scripture related to work. Surprisingly enough, here is what I found:

Ecclesiastes 9:10 ~ Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

Colossians 3:23-24 ~ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ that you are serving.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 ~ For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

Proverbs 14:23 ~ In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ~ Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God!

But this one scripture really hit me right between the eyes! Wow!

Ephesians 4:28 ~ Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor. Working with his hands what is good so that he may have so that he can give to those in need.

That is why we work! So God can provide for us in abundance so that we can bless others out of that abundance. If you think you are living paycheck to paycheck, look again. Give up something and bless someone with it instead. Give up just one meal and pay for someone else's meal. Take a hot meal to a shut-in. Bless someone with $5. It may not sound like a lot of money to you, but you may just be the answer to someone's desperate prayer.

So, the moral of the story is to go to work and work as unto the Lord so that you bring Him glory. Work so that you have something that you can bless others with in their time of need. The mission field is ripe. Now let us go to work with a new perspective!