What Do I Want to Reap?

I thought this was a great question Matt posed in his sermon this morning. What do I want to reap this year? There are many things I would love to reap...some really good and great things but also just some good old fashioned, selfish wants! Of course I want my relationship with the Lord to grow this next year, but how? I would love to be more in tune with the Spirit, being led by Him, and able to respond to life's circumstances in a way that would be pleasing and honoring to God. I would really love to grow in my walk with Him, actively participating in our relationship and intentionally seeking Him. The list could go on. But this morning, I loved the idea of looking at the fruit of the Spirit as a starting point. What from who the Spirit is do I want to emanate this time next year? And what do I need to sow this year to get there or at least as Matt reminded us, get further in the process?

So, after some thinking, I chose faithfulness as the fruit I want to reap. I want to be more faithful. More faithful in my relationships with friends, more faithful in my responsibilities at home, more faithful in my relationship with Matt, and more faithful in my relationship with the Lord.

Now, what do I need to sow in order to reap faithfulness? This is the reason for my post. I suppose it would be good to become more intentional, PERIOD. I would love to have the "come as it may" attitude, but if I stay there, I will rarely get anything done and my relationships will never grow! I need to start consistently being intentional. I think those will be my "motto" words this year: consistency and intentionality. It may mean that I need to start planning time in my day for cultivating my relationship with God, whatever that might mean for me daily, but nonetheless, consistent and daily. Maybe it means intentionally meeting with someone and discussing a book we are reading together or not being afraid to pray with others more. It may mean I start planning surprise date nights for Matt and I. Maybe it means I need to start writing things down or ask a friend to hold me accountable and check in with me. Maybe I need to make a weekly schedule of all the household duties on it and actually follow it.

Whatever I need to sow to reap faithfulness, I must do without becoming legalistic. I have such a hard time not feeling like a failure when I don't do something I said I was or I planned on doing. Extending grace to others has grown in me greatly over the past two years, but extending it to myself is another thing. I have come from one extreme, not to the other extreme, but much closer to it. I have been learning the freedom that comes from God's grace and have been deeply enjoying the riches of it, but I have yet to really put it to practice when it comes to creating a plan of action. It so easily becomes a set of rules to me. I have immensely grown spiritually and emotionally by intentionally not creating these rules or "shoulds" in my life. But this is the year I need to begin practicing by adding more of a plan or a little bit of "it would be great ifs" in my life.

If you have actually gotten to the end of this post, thank you. And if you have any other thoughts on what to sow to reap faithfulness, please share!