I hope you all had an incredible Christmas. The WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us. Wow!! Let that sink in a bit. God sent His only Son to come to earth as a baby! He spent 33 years getting to know us…our joys, our sorrows, our triumphs and temptations and then He willingly went to the cross to bear each and every one of our sins. All of them. There’s not a single one that is TOO big for Him. He took them all to the cross so that we wouldn’t have to pay for them. So we wouldn’t have to try to live a “good enough” life. He is enough for us. We are not enough. But HE is. I hope you can rest in the promises that were given to us over 2000 years ago at Christmas and brought to fruition on Easter morning!!
I had a few moments this Christmas where it was like I was hearing the story all over again. And it was so good for me. It felt like the first time my ears ever heard of the amazing grace that God has given to us! Tears welled up in my eyes when I realized that even though I’m not perfect or worthy of His grace He still gives it to me. What a tremendous blessing! God is so good!!
Thanks for allowing me to share that with you all. I just feel like so many times we rush through everything these days. We don’t take the time to savor things like we should. It really started to sink in anew for me and I loved it. And I want to keep the feeling and the knowledge of the best gift ever alive!!
But now that Christmas is over people are going to be ready to move on. But let’s not move on too quickly or better yet, when we move on let’s take a little bit of Christmas into the new year with us. Let us continue to share the gifts of the baby Jesus with the world. As we move into the next year and start planning all the things let us remember to plan our time with Jesus. Our time in the Word and with a community of believers at our church. Let us plan to keep our relationship with Jesus forefront in our minds and on our tongues when we speak with those around us.
Cracking open a planner for the first time can be so invigorating for some and daunting for others. I have always loved the idea of a planner. I love the cute little sayings between the months and the year full of possibility. But lately new planners have been intimidating to me. I have felt like there is just too much unknown, too much structure and too much blank space for me to fill so I just clam up and do nothing. I started a new planner in October. I filled out one month and maybe one or two weekly pages and then NEVER used it. AH! And you know planners are not cheap these days (well, they can be many are not)!
I stumbled upon my friend Kristin’s blog about bullet journaling and I was immediately drawn into it. I immediately saw the benefit and the way it was all laid out made me hopeful and not intimidated like most planners. Now, I will say, that bullet journaling is not for all types of people…just like regular planners are not for all types of people. But if you’ve ever struggled to keep up with a planner then maybe you should give bullet journaling a shot!
There are so many resources to check out in order to get an idea of what bullet journaling really is. I’ve only been bullet journaling for a few weeks so I’m not one to give ALL the advice but I just wanted to jump in here today to tell you to give it a try if you feel like regular planners just aren’t cutting it for you! You may fall in love with bullet journaling….and if you don’t love it you won’t be out a lot of money since the supplies for bullet journaling can be very inexpensive.
These paragraphs from Kristin’s blog are what convinced me to try it…”One of the best things about having a bullet journal is that you create it day to day. You don’t write your next daily to-do list until the last day is complete. Need to start a separate list or big project? Go for it. Just turn to a new page and start writing.
Here’s the other thing I love about using a bullet journal. There is no guilt in blank pages! For a perfectionist like me, this has been a complete game changer.
It used to be that when I stopped using my planner for a couple days and looked back on the blank pages I missed, I was overwhelmed by guilt and frustration – which meant I went even longer without using the planner. With my bullet journal? I can pick up right where I left off no matter how much time has passed. I just flip to the next page and resume .
The best way to experience the magic of bullet journaling? Just start. “
You can head over to my pinterest board for even more ideas. Since I just started bullet journaling myself my board is not extensive but there are plenty of pages to give you a good idea of how to start a bullet journal and some fun ideas of how to design some pages. But again, it doesn’t have to be fancy. Sometimes DONE, is better than PRETTY! I did purchase the Brainbook by Kalyn Brooke that Kristin talked about in her blog and it was very helpful to me. You may also find it to be helpful. It walks you through setting up your bullet journal and even gives you a bit of the history behind the bullet journal.
I just really love that I can write down exactly what I need and want to have in my planner. And there is no blank page guilt!! My planner is now my bullet journal and it holds all my important things not just my calendar. I don’t have to carry around four different notebooks anymore to keep all my lists straight. I am so glad I finally gave bullet journaling a try. Granted I haven’t even reached my first 30 days of bullet journaling I know it is a game changer and I expect to see myself still using this method to try and keep my brain in tact a year from now!!
Do you have a bullet journal? What are your favorite types of pages to make? I actually just started another instagram account too in order to keep all my bullet journal posts and information handy!!
