Looking for direction?

Welcome to the New Year, a time that everyone is looking for that same new direction. How will you make yours look different than everyone else’s?

We could start off with motivational speakers to coach us into feeling good about who and what we are.

A good step would be to make a vision board. Those things are quite popular these days.

Some set themselves up with apps. Apps for workouts, Scripture reading, calorie intake, reading goals, and words of affirmations.

People buy memberships to motivate themselves into a better version of what the mirror demonstrates each morning. For only $29.99 a month, you can have a new you by the summer. Be swimsuit ready at the sacrifice of wasted money because we know the drill. All intentions are good but they fly out the window in light of life.

Another great goal is to be done with social media, done with complaining, done with toxic people, done with stuff, done with procrastination, and done with being done.

And Christians, we set the ever grand idea to read the Bible in a year. Raise your hand if you have been there. Me, too! And don’t forget that word of the year. We all have taken the quiz or been inspired by a verse, person, or prayer. I know I have and I want to actually focus on mine, but I know that realistically I won’t always keep it on the forefront of my Christian living.

So where do we go? What do we do? What direction should we turn our thoughts and bodies to accomplish all the to-dos and resolutions of a life that isn’t quite full or of one that is depleted?

I have been thinking of a true focus.

If, as a Christian, I tune into what the Lord is really saying to me, and follow through with the convictions He is placing on my heart and mind, what should I be doing?

Abide is the word. What does that look like and how can I follow it without making an idol out of it?

Pray.

Pray is really the correct word, the one that always has direction. Pray is the word that draws us to the Lord without the need to have a label, a special verse, a to-do list, a membership or downloadable reminder, or anything else in between. Prayer is how we can abide.

Prayer draws us in despite all of our goals and resolutions. It is what the Lord asks of us, communion and relationship with Him. Abiding is accepting the relationship that Jesus calls us into.

John 15:4 ESV 

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

In communion with the Lord, you will have your direction. You will have your compass set when your focus is on Jesus. When you abide in Him, you live in freedom of those lists and New Year declarations. When we walk with Him, there is no feeling bad or guilty over skipping a work-out, tearing our vision boards, or missing out on the Scripture verse of the day. We have the true motivator with us even when we forget our lists,. procrastinate in goals or fall into bed before our apps remind us to. He sees us through and gives hope in all things.

James 4:8 

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

As you start a new year, a new chapter, or a new beginning, check your focus. Remember that the Lord is for you. Abide in His love and truth and you will always have the core of His purpose at hand.