Taking Jesus Seriously (& Not Much Else)
WriterCaroline.com - Taking Jesus seriously and not much else
The thing I say in my head all the time and sometimes out loud to my phone screen is, “JUST LET ME TURN INTO AN OLD LADY!” It is annoying that culture is so desperate for me to be a spry young thing forever. It’s not like age will turn me into a sea dragon or a purple-headed people eater. Just an old lady. Why can’t I turn into an old lady? I thought we liked those?
Read MoreDoes anyone else get whiplash from the sudden “Christmas cookies!” to “Let's cut out sugar!" thing that happens as we transition from December to January? I always feel like we were having so much fun until January had to come by and ruin everything.
Anyway, I rant about this every year (see several blog posts here and my Instagram highlights here), and then every year I remember that the gospel is really good news for the girl who is allergic to goals. It's also good news for the girl who loves goals. So, if you want:
some good-natured ranting
gospel perspective on goal setting
a peek into some worship-related goals I have this year
help to set your own worship-related goals
…I've created a 13-minute video that I hope you'll enjoy!
Read MoreEvery year between Christmas and New Year’s, I start to feel panicky. I can hear January lacing up her Nikes, and I know she’s coming for me. GO AWAY! WE WERE ALL HAVING SO MUCH FUN UNTIL YOU SHOWED UP. I’m afraid of her because I think she’s mean and will knock these Christmas cookies out of my hands and make me eat fistfuls of lettuce instead. I turned off the lights, and I’m pretending no one is home, but MAN she is persistent. It must be the endorphins. JANUARY, GET YOUR GIANT LIST OF GOALS OUT OF MY FACE BECAUSE IT’S BLOCKING MY VIEW OF THE HALLMARK CHANNEL.
Read MoreAll our attempts to celebrate New Year’s Eve fell through, so a friend suggested we just celebrate later and call it “Happy Old Year" party. I am VERY into parties that have a dash of strangeness to them, and this excites me more than if our plans had worked out.
It also made me chuckle because it seemed like a nudge of God’s elbow, him once again, in a season of newness, drawing me back to oldness. In church New Year's Eve morning, I kept thinking over and over again how for me, in this season, I do not believe God is calling me to anything new. I think he’s calling me to something old, something eternal.
Read MoreAnnually, I lament the absurdity of following sugary sweet and cuddly December with January's VERY HIGH BAR for all things. The resolutions, the meal-planning, the budgeting, the fitness, the vegetables—I can't take it! I miss you, December!
I only partially mean it. Fresh starts are fun. New Year's Resolutions are noble. But something about January's brand of hustle irks me a bit, and this year I finally figured it out: the things we start must be rooted in Jesus's finished work on the cross. Anything else is asking a goal to be a god.
(Audio file included!)
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