(Part 2) Your 2024 North Star

This morning I listening to the Cortex Brand podcast where hosts Make Hurley and CGP Grey talked about their upcoming year and how they were going to navigate it in a healthy and productive way. They are the designers of the Theme System journal, and kind of ‘make it bespoke for yourself’ type journal that’s based around personal growth.

Here’s a paraphrase of Grey’s description of the presented problem we immediately encounter when we start trying to do self improvement at the turn of the year:

“Urgh…resolutions. Don’t talk to me about resolutions. They don’t work. Goals are no better. If you set a goal the moment January 1st turns around it is incumbent upon you to start working towards that goal. No one starts January 1st ready to go for their year, certainly not in the way their goals would require of them, and so already out of the gate you’re behind!. A Theme however is something different…”

Myke picks up on this:

“For me having a theme is completely different to a goal, is something that shapes you and the direction you’re going in. Like a north star up there in the sky. It’s always up there, you just move in the direction of it. It’s that simple.”

This is very helpful to my thinking right now.

It has got my internal God engine turning over and some key questions started formulating.

An Operating System for a New Year, New Seasons and Times of Transition

I’ve just moved countries, churches, jobs, cultures and am raising two toddler boys and a baby girl on the way. It’s also the end of the calendar year.

All of those overlapping things are more than enough to get my brain working.

What is my life stage? What is my calling and assignment? Is it still what is was? Is it shifting or opening up or unfolding? Am I being the person I believe I’ve been called to be or…not?

In my experience and in my reading of the Bible God has a mysteriously unusual, yet deeply personal way of leading us all. We have to balance that personal leading with the known and trusted ways God has led His people historically. Somewhere on the spectrum of that balance, we find the voice of God.

What I’m looking for, and what I’m suggesting you look for, is some kind of spiritual operating system can help us flow (or stumble) in the direction God is beckoning us in this new year, season or time of transition.

Is a theme too simple solution or do I need to keep looking?

What a Theme is and How is it Might Work for You

That image of North Star is helpful for my imagery driven brain.

It’s a guide. Something you edge towards and in the direction of. It is something that is consistently there day and night and when I am at a decisional crossroads trying decide where I should invest my time or my ‘yes’, there it is as a reminder.

-> what did God say when I asked Him in advance of this moment?

-> Before the storms or the busyness or the demands of this moment, what truth did God say He wanted me to orbit round?

I think you could work this language of a theme or a north star into a comfortable fit for Christ’s life. He followed what the Father was doing, prophetically, according to ‘the plan’, in the moment, with intentionality and with spontaneity. Doing the Father’s will was His North Star. You don’t have to use the word ‘theme’ but idea is there.

Our Common Mistake

Now problem I’ve encountered in the past is that when I start out of the gate with a wrong method or strategy for pursuing my growth in God, very easily I can end up creating something that is self defeating and ultimately is more of a negative than a positive force in my life.

By choosing a wrong method at the start, one that is more focussed on achieving, hitting a mark, self effort of back breaking discipline what I end up with is:

1) I don’t make the change I wanted to make in the first place.

2) I feel bad that I tried and ultimately failed.

3) I then feel like I am even further back than I was as the start before I set out trying to make an effort to make a positive change!

This isn’t something I want to repeat, nor you I’m sure.

So What is the Alternative?

I’m clearly suggesting “Go to God and ask Him for a theme for your life next year”. My heart is though to urge us both to do this with wisdom and a godly caution.

What we’re talking here is prayer.

Prayer will always been listening to God and talking to Him. That won’t ever change. However, the way we pray should change and develop and mature a lot over our lives. That’s ok.

Andy Stanley says “Marry the mission. Date the model”. The mission here is “Hear from God about our lives”. The model is “Try a theme”.

The theme model I’m exploring right now is asking God for an impression. A sense. A resonant feeling that seems to come back and land in my gut each time like it’s the the right thing. Something I can orbit, something I can be reminded of in a sentence and then benefit from as I make my next choice.

I’m not looking for a model to replace the free flowing movement of the Spirit of God. If I start ‘marrying the model’ I will push God out of the equation and end up with just a well meaning man made project. I’m equally not looking for a rigid system that as we saw above gives more opportunities to fail rather than succeed.

Carefully Explore and Make it Personal

Galatians 6:4-5 says this “Let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbour. For each will have to bear his own load”.

Eugene Peterson helpfully paraphrases this verse in The Message this way:

“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others. Each of you must take responsibility for the creative best you can with your own life”

Here’s what I see going on here. God has more for you and I this year than a single goal, a lone achievement or solitary refining of our productivity or priorities. He has more for us than comparison and more for us than building our own kingdom.

He called the people of Israel into a chosen land to explore, expand into, to conquer and make their own. A whole land not just one small portion of it. He called them to expansion. All beginning and ending with trusting Him and following Him.

Jesus calls us into a New Covenant, a Kingdom that starts small and gets vaster the more you step into it. As CS Lewis wrote, our job is to go ‘further in and further up’ into that Kingdom and see how much more expansive and jaw dropping it gets with each step.

I’m starting with an exploration of where I’ve come from and where God has already been moving, and I’m going from that place to the multiple things God may be calling me to expand into next, not limiting myself to just one goal here or there.

It’s ok for the beginning to be small. God almost always starts with small.

My Theme, Process And Conclusion

This year I have asked myself:

*What is the still small voice of God’s voice saying to me about this year I am about to step into?

*What are my passions, what am I excited about starting or developing?

*What things do have in seed form that will only grow into something if they are planted and intentionally nurtured?

*Is there theme, a sentence, an impression that God might be drawing me to that kind of encompasses all of these things? Is there an umbrella statement that will help remind me off all these things and help me stay on track (rather than be a pressure and stress creator in my life).

-> I made a list of things I’m caring and passionate about this year.

-> I came up with managing my time, prioritising my relationship with my wife and children, relating to God as a son and not as an employee, writing books and content, building life giving relationships here while maintaining one’s from back home, blessing and leading my church passionately and authentically, being healthily physically and mentally, and so on.

-> After praying about a theme, a north star to guide and keep me on track, the phrase I got was “Leading myself well”.

This year is going to be a year of leading myself well.

That’s my theme.

That’s what I’m asking God to empower me to do, to lead me in the direction of, to remind of when I need it most. I’m praying He will ultimately be the one who leads me to leading ‘me’ well.

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Make a careful exploration of your life, where has the imprint of God been felt this year gone? Where do you need to lay down the comparisons or the kingdom building? What seeds need to go into the ground and be nurtured this year? What truth can you orbit as you go into 2024?

Ultimately, where is Christ walking next in the world and your world?

Find that North Star. Let me know what you discovered.

Blessings,

Alistair