Branch On The Vine

By: Alli Matthews

Happy New Year!

Have you thought about any New Year’s Resolutions yet? Personally, I have not.

Lately I have been traveling the state Michigan, spending time with family, studying for my PA licensing exam, and recovering from a cold. I have not had extra time to reflect on 2023 or set goals for 2024.

That’s why I created a little reflection and goal-setting print-out for us to do together this week or whenever you have time. There’s no rush. I will link it at the end of this post.

But before creating the worksheet, I was thinking about reflecting and goal-setting and how they are good things to do. Our culture loves setting goals, accomplishing them, and then feeling the sweet satisfaction of crossing them off.

We can quickly become prideful when reflecting about our successes throughout a year or shame ourselves for things we struggled with. That’s not what God wants for us.

We can make goals with selfish motives or from places of insecurity or shame. Setting goals can cause stress and disappointment when we don’t meet them. They can lead us to focus more on ourselves and ways we’re not meeting our own standards. That’s not what God wants for us either.

So what does God want for us when it comes to reflecting and goal-setting?

That’s a good question.

I can’t give you a perfect answer, but I can share what God has put on my heart this year.

Instead of reflecting only on our self-focused highs and lows throughout the year, what if we also reflected on what God has done then praise Him for it?

The Bible gives an example of reflecting on what God has done in the book of Joshua after God parts the Jordan River for the Israelites to cross safely:

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

Joshua 4:1-7

Taking time to remember what God has done in our life strengthens our faith and increases our trust in the Lord. That’s why He wants us to reflect on how He has moved in our hearts and lives.

What about goal-setting?

When it comes to setting goals, God has used this passage in James to change how I see this process:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.

James 4:13-16

This passage has taught me that God’s will must come before my goals and plans for a year.

Instead of making my number one priority striving and struggling to accomplish a goal, I want to be open to whatever God has for me. This year, I want to intentionally pray about my goals and dreams – not with closed fists gripping onto my plans and desires, but instead with an open heart. I want to let God lead me and even change my goals and dreams trusting that He knows what is best for me.

I pray that you enjoy your time of reflecting and goal-setting with God in this new year and that you would keep your heart open to what He wants for you, praising Him through the ups and downs of every year.

In their hearts humans plan their course,
    but the Lord establishes their steps.

Proverbs 16:9

Here is the link to the Reflecting & Goal-Setting With God print-out: