There is always such promise in a new year, isn’t there? Its the time we make resolutions and promises that this year will be different. This is the year we will lose weight. This is the year we will eat more healthy. This is the year we will finally love ourselves. But it doesn’t take us long, does it, to fall back into the daily routine of life? By the end of January, we stop working out, we give up on spinach, and we learn to settle when we look in the mirror.

What is it about resolutions that are so hard to keep? Is it because these resolutions are grounded in guilt? Maybe. I really don’t know.

I’ve been reading the Bible in a year for the past two years. That doesn’t mean that I have gotten through the Bible twice in two years, it means that its has taken me two years to get through the Bible and I’m not even finished yet. It started as a New Years resolution, which obviously failed, but one that I keep plugging away on like a year has 1000 days. But I know I will finish.

Why bring up all that? The other night I was reading a story about Elijah in 1 Kings 19:11-13. God tells Elijah to stand on a mountain. As he is standing there God passes by. There is such a terrible wind, but God was not in the wind. Then there was an earthquake. But God was not in the earthquake. After that there was a fire, but God was not in the fire. Finally there was a gentle whisper and when Elijah heard it he knew it was God.

This passage was pretty convicting to me. Personally I tend to look for God in the dramatic, in the theatrics. But in my daily every day, I forget to look for Him in the gentle whisper. But that’s where He usually is, isn’t it? He’s in our quiet times, our Bible studies, our community fellowship. He’s in devotionals, He’s in our relationships, and He’s there when we pray.

So my resolution this year is to listen for gentle whispers- and to achieve this in very practical ways, by continuing my journey through the Bible and by choosing to pray and invest in relationships in a meaningful way.

And hopefully by grace and not guilt this year will draw me closer to my heavenly father, and in turn draw me closer to my husband, children, and community.