Are You an Amateur?

I love a New Year! It’s a wonderful time to reflect on the past year and determine how to make this year even better. What goals do I want to accomplish? What projects do I want to complete? How will I apportion and focus my time to be used most effectively?

But this year is going to be different. I’m asking myself…how can I reach out to nurture and build meaningful relationships, seeing them as more important than any project I might accomplish or goal I might achieve? The Pandemic deeply affected me as I grew to realize how important people, especially family and friends, really are in my life. I spent most of my life speaking to and teaching thousands of women, and yes, I believe God used me to touch lives. (Actually, one of the things I love most is helping women understand that no matter who they are, they can know God and experience a life of purpose and love). Yet, how many of those women did I walk alongside on their path to discovery? Sadly, few, because I spoke and then hopped on an airplane and flew away.

In these remaining years, I am more interested in coming alongside others, one relationship at a time. This is my New Year’s challenge and resolution. I honestly feel like an amateur in this but Bill Mowry in his book, “The Ways of the Alongsider” writes, “The word ‘amateur’ comes from the Latin word meaning ‘lover.’ Amateurs are not people who necessarily lack skill or training; amateurs can often be highly skilled. They do what they do not for pay but out of the sheer love and joy of it.”

So join me this year, won’t you? Let’s learn how to build genuinely loving, transparent, and fulfilling relationships with the people around us. How do we do this? Where do we begin?

The best place to start is by building a deeper relationship with God.  John, one of Jesus’ dearest friends, tells us, “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another… for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.” (I John 1:7-11) 

Start today by simply asking Jesus for His supernatural love through an even deeper relationship with Him than you imagined. I can guarantee that’s a prayer He will answer…immediately. And it’s your first step in beginning the best year you’ve ever experienced!