Man to Man

I am delighted to announce that my husband, Reen, begins a new column for men this New Year. My husband is a true “Barnabas,” someone with the genuine God-given gift of encouragement. Don’t forget to show thais section to your husband or forward it to a man in your life who needs encouragement during these trying times. Blessings!

Put Ink to Your Thoughts

Starting with our January edition of our newsletter, I will be writing a column for men. January is an appropriate time for new beginnings and fresh endeavors. If there is some topic you’d like to see covered– a great man’s book you’ve recently read, or something you’d be interested in having a Zoom discussion about, please contact me at reen@exitotb.com .

I’ve had the privilege of hearing great comments and reviews on Linda’s blogs and newsletters. Some of these have come from men, which inspired me to begin my own column. In addition to my continued real estate business on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, I am also a published freelance writer and I have a passion for men’s ministry.

With a new year on the horizon, in December I began to consider taking the proactive step of goal setting. I received a beautiful leather-bound western motif journal for Christmas last year from our kids, and decided to use this for my 2021 journal. If I am perfectly honest, journaling is an area where I’ve fallen short in the past–and am probably not alone.

So, it was rather surprising when on New Year’s Day at around 4:30 a.m. , I awakened and could not go back to sleep. I got up, crept out of our bedroom, and went into my office. Sensing that this was a seminal moment to put a stake in the ground with God, I got on my knees and began to make commitments to Him that I wanted to achieve in 2021.

I quickly realized that I didn’t want to lose these, so grabbed my new journal and wrote these key commitments down. Here are my “7 Key Commitments for 2021”:

  1. Draw closer to God
  2. Trust God more
  3. Share God more
  4. Love my wife more
  5. Earn more so I can give more
  6. Use my writing skills more
  7. Get healthier

So my encouragement is to commit your goals to paper and work your plan. My Bible verse for the year is: “Commit your actions to the LORD and your plans will succeed.”(Prov. 16:3)

Based on these 7 commitments, I plan to write detailed goals to both implement and track.

What are your “7 for 2021”?

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