For as long as I can remember I’ve created goals for the new year. I attended the classes, read the articles and the books all about effective goal setting and I’ve used several methods to help me write effective and realistic goals. Some years I was a rockstar and achieved all my goals (think eager, energetic 20 something years) and other times, more often and more recently I’ve missed the mark.

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”

Proverbs 16:9

Was it bad time management? Lack of motivation? Lack of prioritization? Lack of passion? All of the above?

What it is that drives us to write down goals in the first place? I love the idea of fresh starts, new goals and ambitions. A renewed passion to get things done.

We hear it all over … “new year, new me” or hashtag goals.

Each new year, I am reminded that God makes all things new.

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

Isaiah 43:19

I love the idea of clicking the reset button, striving to be a better version of myself but somewhere along the way my focus drifts or shifts.  My recent years of failed goals caused me to reevaluate my “resolution” process and to try something different.

This year I am choosing a word for the year. I am also choosing a bible verse to declare over my life for the year and along with that I am looking at my goals and seeing how they align with each other and with God’s word for my life. If they don’t align then they are not the right goals for me in this season and this year.

So what is my word?

I am not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination but what if we knew which seeds would grow before we planted them. Would it change the way we planted our seeds or the way we cared for them? What if we knew were the fertile soil was and where the sun would sit “just right” to make these seeds grow and flourish?  What if we knew which seeds would produce the best fruit or most beautiful flowers, would it change the way we tended to those seeds?

As I prayed about my word for 2018, I felt God whispering to me “Cultivate”.

Cultivate? Cultivate what, I thought.

Cultivate Defined: 

• to prepare or prepare and use for the raising of crops.  Some fields are cultivated while others lie fallow.; also : to loosen or break up the soil about (growing plants)
• to foster the growth of cultivate
• culture
• to improve by labor, care, or study : refine cultivate the mind
• further, encourage
• to seek the society of : make friends with looking for influential people to cultivate as friends

Although, nothing in life is guaranteed, what we give our time and attention to is much more likely to flourish then what we neglect.

Do you want to know which seeds will flourish? It will be the seeds that you tend to and place in the right location during the right season. It will be the seeds you care for and cultivate.

So this year, I will become a cultivator. I will be cultivating my relationship with God, with my children and family. I will be cultivating my skills and gifts. I will be cultivating a life that brings me joy, overflow and rest. I will be cultivating a rhythm of giving attention to what truly matters and blocking out the rest. I will cultivate grace, stillness, quite, peace, kindness, space. I will intentionally leave space in my schedule to allow myself to be directed and redirected by God. I will make space for divine appointments.

What is your word for 2018?

My bible verse for 2018:

“Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.”

Proverbs 3:3

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With Love,

Misty

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“Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.”

Psalms 143:8

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