Where Do We Go From Here? Part 1

Posted by Betsy

I absolutely adore the Christmas season.  For us, it begins in November, when we shop for, pack, pray over, and ship our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. It lingers on past New Year’s Day, with lights blinking softly on the Christmas tree, and haunting Christmas melodies playing in the background while we homeschool.

It is a season brimful with wonderful family traditions, many of which Bianca has already shared with you. Yet when we’re in the midst of it, we’re sometimes hard-pressed to pause and reflect on where we’ve been this past year, where we are, and where we’re going.

I recently read an email from Doug Phillips, President and Founder of Vision Forum Ministries, which addresses this very issue. He challenges us to do three things at the end of each year, which will set a purposeful, meaningful course for the new year. These involve reflecting on God’s providences; saying thank you to those who have impacted us; and forgiving those who’ve wronged us.

Believing that it’s never too late to implement a good thing, I would love to share his thoughts with you. Even though 2010 is behind us, we can still look back—with a little more time nowJ—and glean lessons that will carry over.

Doug’s article is long, so I will post it in three parts. Part 1 encourages us to chronicle the providences of God, so that we don’t forget them.

I. Outline and Chronicle the Many Providences of God

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

(Hab. 33:2)

First, using simple bullet points, outline the key events for every week of every month of the year. Take the time to do the research which will help jog your memory and allow you to make an accurate record. I find that reviewing bills, blogs, journals, newspaper headlines, letters, and even organizing my photographs chronologically are enormously helpful tools. Those individuals who were faithful to journal or keep a diary will have little problem reconstructing key events. Give yourself a good week to reconstruct your own outline of the year. Also, by making this a family project, you will not only build your list with greater speed and precision, but (in the hands of a loving patriarch) the very act of chronicling the providences of God in your life is a blessed tool for family discipleship.

Every family will have a different set of priorities directing what they should record. In addition to recording the key events and providences of the year chronologically, I try to take the time with my family to record some of the following information on separate bullet lists:

Where did I/we travel?

What were the most important sermons I heard this year?

What books/articles did I write?

What significant household projects did we accomplish in 2010?

What were the most important meetings of the year?

What special friendships were made this year?

Which children lost teeth, and how many?

Who grew in physical stature, and how much did they grow?

Who learned to read this year?

What diet and physical exercise regimen did I maintain to honor “my temple”?

What books did I read? Did we read as a family? Did my children read?

What Scriptures did my family memorize?

What loved ones died this year?

What were the great personal/ministry/national tragedies and losses of the year?

What were the great personal/ministry/national blessings of the year?

What were my most significant failures/sins for the year 2010?

What commitments have I made to overcome sin in 2011?

What significant spiritual and practical victories did I experience?

In what tangible ways did I communicate gratitude to those who have blessed me and invested in my life?

What are the top ten themes of 2010 for my family?

…to be continued…