By Theron and Mizpah Glenny
The beginning of the year is always one of our favorite times. There’s a newness about it…a fresh start, a new beginning. Dreams come alive again. Our wheels start spinning again as the potential of what could be floods into our brains. We get that sparkle in our eyes and smile on our face. As we enter into this new year, it’s important to capture these sparks so you can identify which sparks to grind.
In this article, we want to share the process we use to put a bow on the previous year by wrapping it up properly so we have legs to leap into the next year. We share the questions we not only ask ourselves, but also our kids. It allows them to think deeply and journal their answers, which make beautiful memories to remember years from now.
Please note, we strongly encourage you to set aside 1-2 hours to do this. We’ve learned that if something is really important to us, we schedule it on the calendar so our brains know the time is set aside. So, reserve some time for yourself and your family. The clarity you’ll get doing the exercise will make the pain of blocking the time off well worth it.
Before you start thinking about the new year, first look back on the previous year and write down what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what you’d do differently. Here are some questions you and your kids can ask yourselves:
What were your favorite moments?
What brought you the most satisfaction?
What did you learn last year?
What new friendship did you start? And why do you enjoy being friends with them?
What was your favorite book you read?
What was something hard you faced? Did you overcome it and if so, how?
What scripture or piece of advice really helped you?
Would you change anything or do anything different?
Once you answer these questions, you should feel good about moving on to start thinking about this new year, but be sure to take the time as a family to share. Don’t feel pressure to share everything as there may be things you don’t want to share, but it’s important to share some things in order for you and your kids to connect to the story God wrote in you as a family the previous year.
Now, time to think about the new year! Here are some questions to ask yourselves (and be sure to write down your answers):
What do you want to accomplish, and why?
What are some fun things you want to do?
What person(s) do you want to be closer to?
How will you serve others this year?
What are some things you’d like to learn this year? Are there areas of your life you want to grow and mature in?
What book(s) are you going to read?
What mentors will you seek counsel from? Another way to ask this is, who do you want to learn from this year?
What could hold you back from accomplishing what you wrote above? …and, how will you overcome the fear with God’s help?
As mentioned before, be open to sharing your answers with each other. Knowing what is in each person's heart to do in the new year provides another connection point and an opportunity to encourage each other.
In the next article, we’ll focus on helping you overcome fears and limitations. We believe this year is a year of ’no limits’ and want to equip you and your family to be all that God wants you to be this new year.
Please reach out to us and let us know how the above questions helped you and your kids prepare for an amazing new year. We want to hear some stories.
The article above also appeared in the Tyrone Daily Herald.
We started Arrow Warriors to give parents resources to help them raise up their children to prepare them for life. Psalms 127:4 says “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” We believe children are a blessing from the Lord. Every kid was created on purpose for a purpose. Our job as a parent, like a warrior with their bow and quiver of arrows, is to aim our children and release them to hit their targets.
Click the Arrow Warrior image to get more parenting resources.