Starting the Year off Right - Reflecting & Goal Setting with Your Kids

This week is the perfect week to sit down with your children and, as a family, reflect on the Lord’s goodness to you over the past year. Gather together in your living room and go around the circle allowing each child to share one or more things they are thankful for from the past year. Write them down to review again next year. After everyone has shared, take some time to pray and praise God for all His blessings and faithfulness over the past year. Reflecting on God’s goodness helps us to be grateful and joyful. ‬‬

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18. (NLT)

Next, go around the circle and have each member of the family share goals for the new year. Make sure to record these goals as well. Some goals might include spiritual goals, health goals, personal goals, educational goals, and business goals. Make sure your goals are...

SMART Goals:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-Bound

For example, a goal could be to read a total of 20 chapter books this year (an average of around 2 books/month). You can help the little ones come up with some goals too. Then set up calendar reminders for every quarter (or every month) to review your family goals so that you are reminded of them frequently and re-motivated to work toward them. 

"And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." - Colossians 3:17 (NLT)

I share more about how we do this in our family and include a template in my book Training Godly Warriors which you can find on Amazon. 

One fabulous goal I recommend everyone have no matter your age is to read the entire Bible in a year (every year). Our favorite Bible reading plan to achieve this goal is The Balanced Bible Reading Plan by Felipe Kirk Bullington on the YouVersion Bible App. I have tried many Bible reading plans including reading the Bible cover to cover and in chronological order and I have found this one to be by far the easiest and most enjoyable.

What makes this Bible reading plan unique? It has you read different types of books of the Bible each day so that you get a well-balanced diet of spiritual nourishment. Most people try to read the Bible cover to cover and get bogged down by the law by the time they get to Leviticus and sadly give up. This plan gives you a taste of everything each day. The author explains it in the following way: Say you were to list out all the different foods you like to eat. But then you only allow yourself to eat one kind of food each day for a month before eating the next thing on your list. If you did this, you would get pretty sick of that one type of food before the end of the month. For example, if you only ate apples every day for a month, by the end of the month, you may never want to eat another apple again (or at least for a very long time).

"Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Nor stand in the path of sinners. Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, And on His Law he meditates day and night." - Psalm 1:1-2 (NASB)

The same can happen when we only read one type of book of the Bible every day. Instead, it can be much more enjoyable to get a well-balanced diet of spiritual nourishment by reading from different genres of Biblical books like history, poetry, epistles/letters, law, prophecy, and more. One marvelous aspect in doing this plan on the app is that even the youngest child can learn how to hit play and have the passages read out loud to them! Or as some of our friends have done, you can airplay the Bible on your Apple TV for the whole family to listen to at once. I also love that this plan has a place at the end of each day’s reading to record your thoughts. When we do this individually with our children we can read their thoughts each day. Usually we just pick out a favorite verse or two from what we read and copy and paste it into the notes. Occasionally our children will also include a question they had on something they read and we will discuss it more as a family.

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success." - Joshua 1:8 (NLT)

Setting goals as a family is a great way to be intentional and accomplish more throughout the year. As Christians, we should always pray first and seek God for wisdom to create goals that honor and glorify Him and help further His kingdom. We must remain eternally focused and remember that God has planned out good works for us to do while here on earth.

"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." - Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

We can pray and ask God, "What would you have me accomplish this year?" Then listen for Him to speak to us and read His Word for we can often find our answer there. If you have more suggestions for reflecting on God's goodness and goal setting, leave them in the comments below.

Blessings on the New Year!

Read more about these ideas in my book, "Training Godly Warriors"

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Onward Christian Soldiers!