A few weeks ago as the new year began, I tried to decide if I would make a resolution. If I decided to make one, what would it be? I didn't want it to be the same as just a regular goal (workout, eat healthier, etc). If I was going to make a resolution, I wanted it to be defining and special. As I meditated on what to do, this verse kept coming to mind:

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:17 

I couldn't get this verse out of my head. It was instant conviction every day. In the mornings when I wake up, in the afternoons when it is time to start a new task, in the evenings when my day is done, I continually ask myself, "Did I do what I knew to do?" It isn't just about refusing to give in to procrastination or never finding a "to do" list left undone. It is about who I am listening to as I go about my day. Am I in tune with my God as He directs me? Have I listened to Him or did I come up with the way I would live today on my own? Did I speak or keep silent as He led me? 

"If you love Me, you will do what I command." John 14:14 

"You have made known unto me the path of life; You fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand." Psalm 16:11

The most blessed place in life to be is standing directly where the will of God places you. By creating my own plan and focusing all of my attention on it, I can fail to hear God as He tells me the real path. At the end of the day, I want to be standing in the spot that God directed me to.

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." I Peter 5:6 

My New Year's Resolution: Be better at listening to the Holy Spirit so that I will know what to do and then doing it!