What I'll be focusing on for 2023

 Others may be wondering what living out my word for 2023 is actually going to look like.  I'm working on a more detailed post concerning my goals for the year -- or the eleven months left in it.  But here's just a quick overview of some things I want to focus on.

🌿 Time with God -- I not only want this to be an important focus of my life, but I want to truly focus on God during my time with Him.  That may sound odd, but believe me, it's highly possible to focus on time with God and not focus on Him.  For example, you're reading through the Bible in a year, but you zip through it so you can cross it off on a list or chart.  You're not really getting much out of what you read.  Or you have a structured prayer list (and I'm not saying this is a bad idea), praying for specific people each day, but again you zip through it just to have it done and cross it off, not really considering the needs of those you are praying for but just generally asking God to bless them.  

So I want my time with God to be focused and meaningful, a two-way conversation as it were.

🌿 Personal growth is in great part a natural result of time with God.  When I think of personal growth, I think of both spiritual growth and growth in character.  With each year that passes, I am more conscious of just how few years I might have left in this life.  I want to make each moment count for God and I want to be strong in character and in my spiritual life.  That means, again, quality time with God each day.  It also means that I face up to my character flaws and begin, with God's help, to grow and change in those areas. 

🌿 Health -- I'm really trying to focus on my health this year.  I want to be as healthy as possible, so I will feel my absolute best and will have the energy and stamina I need for serving God and others.

🌿 Marriage and family  -- After my relationship with God, my relationship with my husband is my highest human priority.  So my marriage needs to be another daily focus in my life.  It's so easy to just go through each day in a kind of humdrum way, not taking time to appreciate and enjoy the things that make our marriage special.  We should never take a day together for granted.  

Family also needs to be a focus.  What do my children and grandchildren need from me?  My prayers, for sure.  Awareness of needs in their lives so I can bring those before the Lord.  And I won't have that awareness without communication.   Sometimes they need my presence in their lives.  Always they need to know I will be there for them and that I am praying for them.

🌿 Homemaking -- I'm determined to focus more on my homemaking this year.  It would be so much easier to keep things clean and organized if I would seriously declutter and downsize.  I truly want my home to be a place that ministers to others and offers them a peaceful respite from the world.  It is that already, but it could be so much more with a little more attention.

🌿 Ministry needs to be a focus too.  In Sunday School yesterday morning the emphasis included using our spiritual gifts to love and serve one another in our local church and beyond.  As I worked through some of the lesson questions on my own in preparation for class,  I was struck by how God is giving me more opportunities than ever to use my spiritual gifts.  I'm not currently teaching, but He has given me so many other ways to give and serve that I can't help but be encouraged.

🌿 Friendships and church family -- I want to be much more intentional with my friendships this year, staying in better touch with some and maybe rekindling some old friendships.  Our church family too -- they are far more than just people who happen to attend the same church.   I read this quote on my friend Whitney's blog, Come Home for Comfort, and was so blessed by it:

“When God saved us, He made us members of His household, and He gave us as gifts to one another. Each brother and sister is a portion of my gospel inheritance from God, and I am a portion of their inheritance as well. We are significant players in each other’s gospel narrative, and it is in relationship with one another that we experience the fullness of God in Christ. 

"Hence, the more I comprehend the full scope of the gospel, the more I value the church for which Christ died, the more I value the role that I play in the lives of my fellow Christians, and the more I appreciate the role that they must be allowed to play in mine.” (Milton Vincent)

Speaking of quotes, I have in my prayer journal a number of quotes from various people, many of them from Elizabeth George.  The one below is really impacting my thinking for this year:

"We have a limited number of years left to change and grow, to follow God's plan, and to live a life marked by diligence.  But just think what can be accomplished for God and for others when we walk in godliness and diligence for our remaining years!

" We dare not waste our most precious resource -- our lives.  We must number our days -- and use each and every one of them for God's glory!"

With that in mind, these are the major things I plan to prayerfully focus on in the next 11 months.  What about you?  What are you focusing on in 2023?