Are You Ready for New?

by Tammy Karasek @TickledPinkTam

Whether you are someone who begins your new year with the school calendar each August, or you follow the calendar that begins each January, most of us begin a new year in some fashion. 

When our daughter was at home, our plans and calendars ran with the school year. We rang in the new school year with a few new clothes and always an ice cream cone after the first day of school. Dates on the calendar would be filled in with events for that first semester. Even though we started our new year in August, we’d always have fun on December 31^st as we celebrated and watched with anticipation as the ball dropped in Times Square announcing a new year with friends and family. 

As the daughter grew up and moved out, the new school year calendar became less and less important. January 1^st became our marker for a new year. I’d purchase calendars that matched that system.

Since it’s January, I’ve begun a new calendar again. I’ve put important dates on the proper pages and written reminders to make appointments at the appropriate time. I’ve even decorated my pages with stickers and doodles to make me smile when I look at the work to be done. It’s worth a shot to make chores look more fun, right?

But as this year started, an injury kept me in a chair with my leg up and ice packs on it for too many days. This allowed some dedicated thinking time—also called, total uninterrupted time with God. I’ve been thinking more intentionally about the newness that comes with the opening of a calendar to the New Year. What changes do I need to make and how? With that question on my mind, I read this verse and wondered if my answer was within those words:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away and see, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

As I read it, I wondered how this could apply to my writing—our writing. After all, each piece we write is new, right? Mulling it over, I came up with the three things below for the New Year and for writing. I hope it is helpful for you as well.

1) I’m a new creation – so write like one. 

Make the words that I write be a testimony of the One who made me new. Whether I write fiction or non-fiction, make sure my message points back to God so that others will want to know more of Him, not me. 

            

2) Let the things of 2018 go. 

That time has passed—leave it there. Don’t keep thinking about writing pieces, pitches or the like that didn’t fair so well. It’s a new year and a new you, use the lessons learned from them and write from a fresh attitude.  

3) The New Year is here—the new you has come. 

Sit up tall and take in a deep breath. Write with a new sense of purpose. God has called you to write His story through your life experiences, so think of a new way to share God’s love through something you write this year. 

That’s what I’m trying to do for the New Year. What about you?

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I'm a new creation, so write like one! Thoughts from Tammy Karasek, @TickledPinkTam, on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

You’ll find Tammy seeing humor and causing laughter in every aspect of life. Her past, filled with bullying and criticism from family, is the driving force of her passion to always encourage others and give them The Reason to smile. She’s been married to her college sweetheart, Larry, for 37 years, a mom to their grown daughter, Kristen and wrapped around the paw of a little dog named Hattie. Born and raised in Ohio, her family now resides in South Carolina. She is the President of Word Weavers Upstate SC, member of ACFW and member of My Book Therapy/Novel Academy. She’s the Blog Coordinator/Editor for Florida Christian Writers Conference. She was a contributor in the 2018 Divine Moments Compilation Book—Cool-inary Moments. She’s been a contributor to several other blogs.

Connect with Tammy on her blog, http://www.tammykarasek.com, through Twitter and Facebook.