This Time Next Year

I read a really interesting article today: it imagined that it was the end of 2013 and reflected on what had happened over the past year.

 

It made me think about what might happen to me and for me in 2013 and what I'll be thinking or feeling this time next year.

 

So often, we have a tendency to drift through life, without really paying attention to what's happening.  We keep our heads down for the most part and only raise them at significant moments - birthdays, Easter, Christmas, holidays - and when we raise them and look around us, we are astonished at how quickly the time has passed. 

 

Sometimes we can feel as though we haven't really achieved anything or moved forwards in any way.  Time drifts past and we remain unaltered.

 

But if we want to look back this time next year and feel that things have changed - that we have changed - we need to be intentional about it.  We need to look around us and take stock of things and decide what we want to happen in the next year.

 

Obviously not everything is in our control, but often a lot more is in our control than we realise.  Sometimes it is nicer and safer to assume that nothing is in our control - we don't have to feel responsible when things don't go our way.

 

The best thing is to take some time to honestly assess where we are right now and to spend some time thinking and praying through where we hope to be this time next year.  For although we can plan where we'd like to be, God's plans are not always the same as ours.

 

        "'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,' says the Lord.

        'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

        For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

        so my ways are higher than your ways

        and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"

 

        [Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT]

 

 

No matter what we can plan or imagine for the year to come, God's plans will always surpass ours.  His plans are bigger than ours.  Unimaginable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beyond Your Wildest Dreams

I would say that I have a pretty wild and vivid imagination. I write stories and have little difficulty creating and imagining a wide range of different situations and scenarios. I find it easy and enjoyable to conjure up new characters.

I find it easy to dream big when it comes to writing.

However, the Bible says that there is one whose imagination far surpasses mine.

"God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!"

[Ephesians 3:20 MSG]

And in the NIV version, this verse tells us that God can do "immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine." His ideas and plans are so far beyond our own that we cannot even comprehend them.

In Isaiah, God declares,

“'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. 'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"

[Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT]

Even when I stretch my imagination as far as possible, even when I dream the biggest dreams I can think of, God's ideas still outstrip mine.

By miles.