Kicking Off 2024
Happy New Year! Is 2024 off to a good start? I feel like tomorrow is the first real test. As of today, our college boys are both back to school, and our quieter, three-musketeer existence has returned.
An odd goal I have for this year: don’t make any big purchase, especially at Christmastime. In December 2022, we bought a house. In December 2023, we traded in my car and bought two cheaper cars, since we were down a car and I wasn’t that crazy about my car anyway.1 This past week, I also got our condo ready to rent for the next three months. Since we haven’t rented it out for five years, the preparation felt a little like a full-blown move. In short, I’m pumped about the simplicity of staying home more, gardening and hopefully doing more entertaining. I am loving my Bible reading plan for this year, and I have what I hope is the first of many soups in the crockpot.2
I’ve also been thinking about how we are called to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves amidst wolves. (Matthew 10:16). The complexity of our world can leave us feeling like some things are unknowable. Lying wolves are so pervasive on every front that it can be hard to know what being wise looks like. But I feel convicted about not throwing up my hands in defeat. I know I can sometimes discern what is right and true — by God’s grace — even in the midst of a sea of lies and propaganda. I know I am called to defend it. And so are you.
In 2024, and for however long we have on earth, I hope you’ll be committed to always speaking the truth in love.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. Ephesians 4:15
Digging Deeper:
Where do you most feel like a sheep among wolves? Can you pray to be bold in your defense of truth?
What are you resolved to do on a spiritual level this year?
What is your plan to grow spiritually this year?
I say “we,” but really I do almost all of our transactions — not the funding part, but the actual transacting part. It may not be a common division of labor, but it works for us.
Please send me your favorite soup recipes.