2025 is under way. While nothing is magical about the turn of a new year, I think most of us experience a sense of renewed excitement. If 2024 was good, then we think with anticipation: “I wonder what this year will hold.” If 2025 was bad, then we think: “Ahhh, I am glad for a fresh start; this year will be different.”
While I think New Year’s resolutions can be both helpful and harmful, I am a huge fan of slowing down, reflecting on the past year, and thinking ahead. We need times when we slow down, reflect, pray, journal, and consider. Life becomes an accidental string of hurried activity when you don’t take time to reflect, whether that be sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee or going for a walk in nature. This blog is the first of two or three that I plan to write about 2025 and living intentionally.
On this note, I came across this article today written by Luke Simon (The Gospel Coalition) which I found interesting and helpful: “A New Year’s Resolution Worth Taking Seriously.” Take time to read it along with whatever else you are doing to thoughtful prepare for another year that God has graciously given.
I am going to write again soon on the New Year. For now, here are two quotes that I am meditating on from two books that I am reading. Enjoy!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Falling away is far more serious than falling down.” (Ethics)
Thomas A. Kempis: “Shut thy door upon thee, and call unto thee Jesus, thy beloved. Stay with him in thy closet, for thou shalt not find so great peace anywhere else.” (The Imitation of Christ).
Dr. BJ Condrey 
Leave a comment