I am not very fond of people who do the theme/number rhyme thing for each year. For instance, Debt Free in '03. Or More in '04. I have two reasons for not liking these catch phrases: 1.) they are hookey and 2.) they are a waste of time. I wasn't debt free in '03. As a matter of fact, I have never hit any of these hookey themes spot on. But I do believe years can have themes. Themes that come from God.
In early November, as I was driving home from church, I began asking the Lord what He wanted me to teach in 2009. I asked Him for a theme and He gave me a very clear one: cultivation. As I continued to pray about this one word theme that I heard, some things became clear to me.
First, I realized that I've grown this year. That was a comforting revelation. Sometimes when you assess yourself, you don't always see your growth. The second thing I realized was that I grew by accident. Meaning, life stimulated growth on it's own. The third thing I realized is that I wasn't deliberate about my growth. There were some areas in my life that I knew I needed to mature in, but I didn't put any real effort into maturing in these areas.
I began to wonder what my life would look like if I deliberately focused on the areas I knew I needed to grow. What would happened if I created the atmosphere in my mind and heart for God's word to change me? This is exactly what I plan to do. I planning to identify the area's of my life that the Lord revealed my immaturity and submit myself to His pruning. Ouch. So how about you? What would your life look like after a year of cultivation?
