Banner 2015

I've tried typing up this post around five times...the words are slow in coming, and I've deleted four drafts! Typical case of writers block, and maybe a little aversion to sharing something that's becoming so personal to me. However, I am a firm believer in keeping things real, and I am walking through a new section of my life that I feel may be of some encouragement to others. With that introduction, let me finish the story I started a few weeks ago.

Late in December I was challenged to chose a verse for the new year, instead of writing a New Year's Resolution. Challenge accepted, and I shared with you all the guidelines I would be using to select a verse that was going to impact me this year. There was one Scripture on my heart from almost the moment I began looking, and ultimately it has become my banner over 2015.

"But daily I lay blows to my body and make it slave, lest after I have preached to others I myself should be disqualified." - 1 Corinthians 9:27

The deep meaning of this passage is only just beginning to settle in on me. Each morning I wake up and make the decision to say 'No' to my body's desires, and 'Yes' to submitting my body to the needs of my soul. Sometimes it means waking up earlier than I want in order to spend some extra time with the Lord; sometimes it means holding my tongue, or maybe speaking my heart.

I will not allow my body which is passing away to dictate the state of my spirit which will live beyond this world. There is a dedication to dying to myself daily (something I am working on). And all of this is for a reason: so that, after I have shared the Lord with others, I will not be disqualified myself. I don't want my life style to be all talk and no walk.

This year, my life will be on the path of change. Deliberate change. Deliberate submission to slavery in the best sense.

Most likely, you'll see more complete thoughts put up on this subject in the future. Until then,

May His Peace be with You,

Bekah S. 

Resolutely Refusing a Resolution

The dreaded New Year's Resolution, you've been looking at that blank paper all day wondering what to write. Of course the first three are routine:

    1. Eat Healthy

    2. Exercise More

    3. Improve Study Habits

After that things get a little fuzzy; you start to get a little impractical:

    4. Save 50% Each Paycheck

By now it's out of hand and your list runs away with your sanity before you can blink:

    5. Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro Before July 4th

Yes, I've been there. I've had that same terrified look that you have on right now when, after my list reaches number 50 (Live in a Van on the Beach), I realize that I've gone too far. Two years ago I wrote a post promoting the perfect strategy to conquering any resolution: Elephant Eating Etiquette. The whole idea being that you take on your resolutions the same way you would take on eating an elephant: one bite at a time. That strategy still applies to me today, even though I have foregone the usual Resolution tradition.

You read right, I didn't make a New Year's Resolution this year. After ten years I have chosen a new path of inspiration this year, based off a wonderful friend's own decision. Instead of a Resolution she has chosen a passage of scripture, committed it to memory, and is hanging it over 2015 like a banner. I too, am finding a scriptural mantra for the year, and I want to challenge you to the same thing.Let go of the impractical list that goes missing sometime before March, the one you won't keep and won't remember by July. Dive instead, into a single verse or passage out of a Word that is alive and active! Cling to it this year!

Your choice should be covered in prayer, but you probably already had a verse pop into your mind. Just for suggestion, your passage should:

    1. Present a Challenge - Your passage should challenge you to growth, it should debate/encourage a major struggle/concern in your life

    2. Encourage Improvement - The passage you choose shouldn't be something that is going to depress you, but something that will encourage you to push yourself toward the prize

    3. Give Glory to God - This is probably the most important point. But your verse, in the end, should not revolve around yourself at all, but remind you to give the glory to the God who spoke it.

Spend some time in prayer over this! Search the Word! I'll be checking back in sometime in the next week to share with you the passage that I've chosen, and I'd love to know what God lays on your heart.

Until then, may God bless your year.

- Bekah S.