Shannon S. McKee

musings and moments

The Tensions of Planning for a New Year

by 1 Comment

Happy New Year! I always have mixed feelings about a new year. It’s like a new journal… so much potential. Which also feels like a lot of pressure. Hence the mixed feelings. Anne of Green Gables liked to say that “Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it… Yet.” That’s sort of how I feel about a new year. 

I think planning and dreaming about a new year is really important. I mean, technically, there is nothing magical about it. It’s just the turn of another day in a string of new weeks in another 12-month saga. But, I believe there is value in rhythms and seasons. I think it’s important for the health of my soul to have this regular pause. The turn to a new year is as good a time as any to examine your life and set new intentions.

For me, this turn to the new year happens to fall after a time of thinking a lot about my mission and purpose. It comes on the heels of a year of where I’m starting to really come alive in some areas that have been waning for some time. So, I have a lot of hopes and desires for continuing that trajectory in the new year. 

2018 was also transitional year for me as we navigated family trauma while Rick was shepherding a rapidly growing church. Most of the time, I felt like I was treading water – sometimes barely keeping my head above water, other times finding a rhythm that kept me afloat. But, in either case, it was still treading water!! Which, by the way, is not a good long-term plan. 

So, as I peer over the edge of a new year along with you, I want to encourage you with a few thoughts that will be important to keep in tension. At least they are for me. 

  • First, don’t believe the lie that you’ll be worthier if you can just get better at this or that in 2019. If you are “in Christ,” there is nothing you can do to make God love you more or less in 2019. He created you, loved you first, and adopted you into His family. You’re one of His kids – He beams when He looks on you. You’re clothed in Christ and seated with Him in the heavenlies.  If you lose the weight or spend more time reading your Bible or get more organized, He won’t love you more than He did in 2018. If you’re going to get after it in 2019, do it from a place of security, in the knowledge that you are already completely loved by the One who matters most. 
  • Second, while it is true that you don’t need to earn His love, He IS committed to your sanctification and growth. He is not afraid to challenge you to live your best life – in fact, He has already prepared good works for you and wants you to walk in them. When you live with purpose and vision and use your time well, it honors Him and is also most fulfilling for you. So, yeah, go after some things in 2019. Take time to reflect on the past and look ahead into the future and ask God to lead you into 2019 with some goals and aspirations. 
  • Third, realize that any time you attempt something worthwhile, it’s going to be a mixture of failures and victories. When placed into the capable hands of your God, both the failures and the victories have value. Transformation and progress will be your rewards – not perfection. Don’t quit because you didn’t nail it perfectly the first two weeks of the year. As you look back on 2018 and, in turn, set your intentions for a new year, evaluate both the wins and the losses. Learn from both and let them shape the new year. 

I have a fresh bullet journal with lots of blank pages for 2019. As I reflect and dream and plan, I’m trying to hold these things in tension so that it doesn’t seem so scary to write something down.

Plus, washi tape – it covers a multitude of sins 😉

Evidently, the new year often induces panic in me. I just read last year’s “planning post” and had to laugh at myself a little: https://shannonsmckee.com/2017/12/30/resolutions-and-printables-and-words-oh-my/

Resolutions and Printables and Words, Oh My!

by Leave a Comment

Can I just be honest with you for a sec? The last few days of December always bring me a lot of anxiety. So much anxiety. Mostly about ending the current year well and starting the new year prepared.

I think social media has pushed me right over the edge with it. All these posts about resolutions and reflections.

What is my word for the new year? Do I even remember my word from last year? What if I pick the WRONG word? How will I reflect on 2017? What did I learn this year? Did any of my goals come to fruition? Did I make the most of my time?

What resolutions will I make for 2018? Is this the year I’ll finally nail my personal disciplines? Is my planner ready for the new year? Where are my color-coded pens and motivational stickers? Do I want to take up bullet journaling for real this time? Should I join a gym or one of the those get-organized classes or a ’30-Days to a New Me’ webinar or a book club or SOMETHING new? Oh, and how can I help the kids do some reflecting and goal-setting?

And, most-importantly, where can I find a cute printable to help me with these times of reflection? Some years (and I’m getting really vulnerable with you all on this one), I have spent so much time looking for the cute printable that I actually ran out of time to do the worksheet and answer the darn questions!

Please hear me. I’m not saying that any of these things are bad things to do. Reflecting is important for our growth. Looking ahead with some dreams and goal-setting is powerful. We need to evaluate so that we don’t just become stagnant – emotionally, spiritually, financially, physically, and relationally. If picking a word for your year helps you do that – awesome! By all means, go for it! Use the printable. Find the perfect planner.

But, here’s what I want to say to you… there’s nothing magical about January 1. Nothing. It’s just a day on a man-made calendar. If I were to breathe a prayer over you right now, it would not be about finding the perfect system to get organized or the perfect planner to accomplish your goals.

No, my prayer would go something like this:

“Lord, thank you for the gift of another year. Thank you that you have called me into relationship with You and given me ultimate purpose and significance beyond any goal I could set. As I choose my word or reflect on my hopes for 2018, I want to submit them all to Your Lordship. Please make them YOUR word and/or YOUR goals. As I process what I want my 2018 to look like, make me hunger for building Your Kingdom not mine. Help me not to find my identity in picking the “right” word or having a well-oiled machine of a planner. Help me not to compare myself to other bloggers or the women I see on social media who seem like they’ve got it all figured out. Help me to find my identity by just looking into Your face. I know you love me too much to just let me be stagnant but that You’ve called me into a dynamic relationship with you where I lean into the Holy Spirit and grow more like you each day. Upend those things that need to go, give me courage and discipline to grow where I need to, and give my clarity of vision as I move into a new year so that I don’t waste the moments you give me. The truth is, I know I’ll come to the end of 2018 with a mixture of victories and regrets. I love that you can take my regrets and make them beautiful marks of redemption in my bigger story. You already know that story. Remind me that everything doesn’t hang on a cute printable. Forgive me for letting a new year produce anxiety instead of a sense of eagerness and adventure. Thank you for the gift of time, Lord.”   

Friends, the truth is that we don’t really know what the coming year will look like. My word for 2017 was “intention.” Nothing about my 2017 was intentional because life just threw more crud at me than I could manage. It was one of the hardest years on the books for me and I come to the end of it weary. Emotionally, physically, relationally. A better word to describe it would be “faith” because that’s what stretched and grew the most in my life. Does that mean I shouldn’t have picked a word? Naw. It just means that there’s nothing magical about those exercises. Reflect, evaluate, dream. But do it with open hands. What if you get halfway through your 2018 and you realize you picked the wrong word? Gasp!! Or that your goals took a different direction than what you wrote down? Double gasp!! Nope… that doesn’t mean you’re a failure. Listen, I grew a TON in 2017. It’s just that it was in ways I did not expect when I was journaling about it a year ago. So, be open to God’s hand in the midst of your planning and don’t let anxiety overshadow it. Instead, enjoy the adventure and see what God does to surprise you and grow you in 2018.

And, if for some reason you don’t get your evaluating or goal-setting done until January 12th, it’s OK. Let the Lord cup your precious face in His hands and guide your gaze to look into His eyes. Find your value there and be reminded that you don’t have to it all figured out this weekend in order for 2018 to be a great year with Him.