Preparing for an Intentional Year
Three Simple Steps for Starting the New Year on Purpose
Most of us never stop. Work, school, church, friendships, family—life seems to be a rush from one responsibility or activity to the next. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
There’s a better way to live.
For more than a dozen years, we have been carving out time for an annual retreat at the end of December or the beginning of January. Our retreat plan has ebbed and flowed, but we’ve come up with a set of practices in a particular sequence to guide us into a more intentional life. It’s been a fruitful, keystone habit that has shaped our lives individually and as a family.
People have often asked us to help them to do a similar retreat. Even if you can’t get away for a retreat, you can do each of the steps— perhaps on a Saturday, or even on a series of weekends.
Here is the process for preparing for an intentional year in three simple steps:
1. Reflect on the past.
2. Discern the season.
3. Create rhythms of intentionality.
Let’s break down each step with a framework to guide you.
STEP 1: REFLECT ON THE PAST
As 2023 comes to a close, here is a simple framework to help you reflect on the year. If we rush into the new year without taking stock of the previous one, we may miss the milestones and memories that are meant to mark us.
Stopping to review the season that we’ve just come through can help us learn from the past; it can give us an opportunity to express gratitude; and it can allow us to discover how we can use our agency to make different choices today. Reflecting on the past is the first step toward living an intentionally year.
Here’s how to reflect on the past year in five movements:
1. Rest
Slow down your breathing and welcome the Holy Spirit.
Remind yourself that you are in the presence of the living God
The Holy Spirit lives in you and is working through you. He desires to have a living relationship with you.
2. Review
To aid in the review, you can go through your calendar and look for key events. Or you can scroll through your photos and look at significant memories. Or you can close your eyes and pray, and see what themes or moments come to the surface.
What significant things happened over the past week?
Where did you discover gifts of joy?
Where did you experience grief?
Where or how did you give and receive love?
3. Rejoice
What seemingly small things are you grateful for?
What are you grateful for that had a significant impact on you recently?
Thank God for the gift of his presence, for blessings, for the gift of relationships, for the ability and opportunity to give and receive love.
4. Repent
Repent and ask for forgiveness for the ways you did not cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
Repent and ask for forgiveness for the ways you failed to give and receive love.
5. Request
Ask the Lord for the grace to grow and participate in the Holy Spirit's work.
Where do you sense the Holy Spirit leading you to grow this year?
STEP 2: DISCERN A WORD FOR THE SEASON
1. Take the posture of a servant.
Decide to obey before the Lord speaks. Consider this story of Samuel’s calling:
“A third time the Lord called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli, and said, 'I'm here. You called me?' Then Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling the boy. 9 So Eli said to Samuel, 'Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down where he'd been.” 1 Samuel 3:8-9 (CEB)
2. Start with what Scripture has revealed.
If the Holy Spirit is a painter and your heart is the canvas on which he paints a vision for this season, the Bible is the palette of colors he uses. If you're well versed in Scripture, you're giving the Spirit more colors to paint with.
3. Listen for the clear and the quiet.
It’s not often that the Lord speaks in dramatic ways. Pay attention to His voice in you. Reflect on this story of Elijah hearing from God:
“The Lord said, 'Go out and stand at the mountain before the Lord. The Lord is passing by?' A very strong wind tore through the mountains and broke apart the stones before the Lord. But the Lord wasn't in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord wasn't in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord wasn't in the fire. After the fire, there was a sound. Thin. Quiet.” 1 Kings 19:11-12 (CEB)
4. Pay attention to repeated themes.
Like the burning bush that caught Moses' attention, causing him to stop and turn aside to find out why the bush hadn't been consumed (see Exodus 3), the consistent thematic notes in our lives call for our attention. When we stop and begin to listen more closely, we may discover an underlying root system or a common thread that helps us identify what God wants to do in our hearts in a particular season.
5. Test your word with trusted friends.
Remember how the first followers of Jesus discerned the will of God— it was in community with each other. “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...” Acts 15:28a
A trusted group of friends can help you not only discern your word for the year but also hold you to it.
STEP 3: CREATE RHYTHMS OF INTENTIONALITY
1. Take an inventory of your existing rhythms in five spheres of life.
2. Choose one or two rhythms for each sphere that are simple, achievable, and repeatable for this season.
Here are some question to help you:
Prayer
What is your default prayer practice?
What new prayer practices could refresh your prayer life?
What practices are daily, weekly, and monthly?
Rest
Do you have a regular sabbath?
What activities do you need to stop in order to rest? In other words, what activities are draining? What activities are costly emotionally and relationally?
What practices can help you create space even if it’s for a few hours?
Renewal
What brings you joy and life? When are you making time for play?
How often are you renewing your mind? What practices or activities help?
How aware are you of your emotions? Try a simple tool like journalling about what is making you feel happy, sad, angry, or anxious.
Practice a gratitude journal or gratitude walk
When are you making time for physical activity? Pay attention to your body.
Relationships
Who is part of your “constellation of relationships”?
Which relationship for you want to “lean in” to?
Which relationships do you need to “let lie”?
Which relationships do you need to “let go” of?
Thinking through “Circles of relational focus”
Work
What aspects of your work are the most energizing?
What aspects of your work are most draining?
What aspects of your work are neutral?
How can you organize your time so that you are doing your most important work when you have your best energy?
What work can others do instead of you?
3. Put them in your calendar so your rhythms become “events”.
Tip: Consider a "meta-rhythm" which relates to all five spheres, like the sabbath.
Bonus: Re-evaluate them after one month and then again in six months.
Bookmark this for future years!
Or better yet, pick up a copy of The Intentional Year and the companion journal to unpack more about these frameworks and practices.
This so very good. A masterclass outline on preparing for an intentional year! Thank you for putting so much thought and effort into this for our eternal benefit.