While some might be quick to respond with a bucket list of sorts to be accomplished in the next twelve months, experience has taught me that such planning has the unintended consequence of focusing one so intently on the list that the serendipitous nature of life as a child of God is stifled . . . it was a lesson slowly learned.

You see, during many of my young-adult-Decembers, I busied myself making an agenda for the new year; not until much later did I realize that my plans, as wonderful and ambitious as I thought they were, paled in comparison to God’s plans for me. Older and a bit wiser, I now begin each new year believing God is going to surprise me with amazing opportunities that will require out-of-the-box thinking and over-the-top faith to capture . . . and I resolve to allow His surprises, not my to-do list, to set the agenda for my daily efforts. When I was a child, I toddled about, as if fearing the sand would sink beneath me; praise God, I’m standing on the Rock now and looking forward to His new joys every morning in 2022! I invite you to ponder doing the same.