This year is half over. And whether that feels like “already??!” or “finally!” to you, I want to encourage you to reflect on this year so far. It seems like our years often develop their own themes- growth years, fun years, grief years, rest years, waiting years. As much as we may plan, we don’t determine these themes, they happen to us. Though planning is wise and a wonderful tool, and we certainly should plan our hours and days and years (see Proverbs 24:3-4, 20:18, and 21:5 to name a few), we still don’t determine the course of how things turn out (see Proverbs 16:9).
Eventful Years
I remember 2016 as being a bittersweet year- monumental conflicts and grief interspersed with the sweetness of supportive friends, joy of raising two toddlers and beginning of our homestead journey with a backyard garden and chickens.
2023 was an eventful year full of travel and new experiences- we traveled to two different states for fun vacations and chaperoned summer church camp all while maintaining our sort-of-homestead— we welcomed baby goats, continued milking, got more chickens, and butchered goats to fill our freezer; I also became pregnant after almost a year of waiting and had a home birth after three previous c-sections! Quite a year.
Uneventful Years
Compared to that, this year seems rather… uneventful. We haven’t really gone anywhere or done anything notable. But I’ve learned and am confident that it’s in the not-really-anything-special moments, days, and weeks that life and family are formed just as much as (or even more than) the extra special or highly active seasons. These will be the days about which we will eventually say “this was what life was like”.
So, as we reflect on this half year, knowing that we have another half before us, let us try to maintain a balanced attitude that combines acceptance of the “so far” with motivation to accomplish what God calls us to before this year closes.
Annual List
We made a list at the beginning of this year, as a family, with categories like:
-things to give up/stop doing
-things to continue/do more
-rhythms to start
-projects
-travel
(I’ll share some specifics in each category from our own list at the end!)
How Are We Doing?
Now that we’re halfway through the year we can gauge how we’re doing. Are we “on track”? Are there things we’ve forgotten about that we need to get back in the forefront of our minds and schedules? Are there things that were maybe unrealistic (like my high hopes of painting the house exterior) or have changed that need to be dropped?
Start Now
If you didn’t make any sort of list/resolutions/rhythms at the start of the year, now is a great time to! It might be useful to make a section of “so far”- write down travels or projects or losses or big things you’ve done and seen God do already this year. Then make a rough list for the remainder of the year. This isn’t about strict goals (we already know that most New Year’s resolutions are bound to fail) but more about ways we want things to be. Habits and routines and rhythms that will shape our days. Along with projects and plans that will be notable at the end of the year when we can look back at it.
Numbering Our Days
Psalm 90 has become a defining verse for our family; verse 12 says, “teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom”. As we plan and reflect, we realize that life is not in our hands. Time is passing away each moment. This, hopefully, causes us to “number our days”- to realize that our time here in this life is finite and quickly escaping us, which, again, hopefully, leads us to a place of surrender to God and wanting to spend this life for His glory- making much of the cross (idea taken from John Piper’s book Don’t Waste Your Life), loving and knowing God and loving others (Jesus’s idea of the most important commandments). This is a heart of wisdom, the way we can use our lives well.
This is the way we can steward what God gives. The only servant He rebukes in the parable of the talents is the one who buried his (see Matthew 25:14-30).
As we reflect on the half year that’s already passed and look ahead to the half in front of us, may we pray to “gain a heart of wisdom”.
Our List
Here are some of the things on our list! Some of these we’ve done really well with, some are completed, and about some I’m thinking “ohhh, right, we were supposed to do that”!
Obviously it will be different in many ways from your own list, but hopefully it will give some ideas/inspiration!
Things to give up:
-hypocrisy
-complaining
Things to continue/do more:
-family walks
-go to the lake/go fishing
-budget
-1000 hours outside
-verse/word of the week
-family & individual bible reading
Projects:
-plant small orchard
-finish trim and skirting on house
-breed Scarlet (one of our goats)
-install shade cloths over fire pit area
-paint house
-fix dirt bike and teach kids to ride
Rhythms to start:
-prayer jar
-meal planning
-craft night
-weight lifting
Travel:
-visit Heather (my sister) in Texas
I hope these ideas encourage and inspire you!
Our families and routines matter deeply! In our own homes are the first places we can obey the call of Jesus to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).
Jennifer Blacklock 
Leave a comment