Showing all posts in January 2021

I don’t ask for much.

When I’m tasked to pick presents, I have to think hard about what I want. I have everything I need. On my last birthday I asked my husband Jeff for Ticonderoga pencils. Once for Valentine’s Day, he gave me potato chips. I love potato chips.

I thought harder this year about what I wanted for Christmas. My list of links was mostly writing-themed. Jeff added AirPods so I could listen to my Hope*Writers lessons without having to perch at my computer.

The gift he bought our girls to give me is a journal. This one requires only one thought, or as its cover shows, one line a day. I’ve journaled every page since January 1st. 25 days! Only 340 to go.  

One line seems slight, especially for a writer, but my tiny commitment is teaching me that small steps matter.

Look at this snapshot of my daughter Abby Kate. She’s 1 year old and still wobbly in her walk. There are lessons to learn, right there in black and white, if you see beyond her little baby legs and consider the big picture.  

1. Trust baby steps.

We want to take big, bold strides when we’re starting something new. Our eagerness can exaggerate our ability. When I was an intern at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama, I was assigned a script to write for the 6:00 newscast. I labored a long time over this story that was going to take the news anchor 20 seconds to read. The producer was not impressed with my words. He returned the copy to me and said, “How about starting with a word other than ‘it’?”

There are two ways to count a baby step, or in my case a 20 second story. I could contend the brevity of 20 seconds is not that important or create 20 seconds of words that might make an impact. I chose to try again.

Little things help us build big things. Even the Bible says we must show ourselves faithful in small ways. (Matthew 25:14-30)

If you’re curious, my script made the 6:00 news that night in 1999. Before my internship was finished, I was offered a job as an Associate Producer.

Trust baby steps.

2. Find a hand to hold.

It’s hard to ask for help. The same pride that prevents us from allowing ourselves baby steps also wants to convince us we can do it alone.

We can’t.

You may suppose the adult walking alongside Abby Kate in that picture is me. It’s actually Jeff’s cousin, Sandy. Our extended family loved and cared for Abby Kate through her early life. In the same way, we need to build a bond with people who hold us up as we begin new things.

Jeff and I were sitting in a booth at Chick-Fil-A four years ago when I told him I wanted to write a book. He said, “I want you to go after your dream because you and the girls are mine.”

Jeff cheers my writing – AirPods, remember? – but his eyes glaze and his ears close when I ramble about niche or newsletters. And that’s OK.

We need people who share the thing that excites us because they push us towards our purpose – and pull if it’s necessary! A sweet friendship refreshes the soul. (Proverbs 27:9)

Who do you want to join your journey? I’m thankful for Alicia and Olivia.

Find a hand to hold.

3. Keep going. 

Do you remember the Energizer bunny? Between Roku, Netflix and Disney+ I don’t watch enough traditional TV to know if the commercial still airs. But the bright pink bunny, powered by Energizer batteries, promotes that the product keeps going and going and going and…

If only we were battery powered.

In case you missed it in tip #2, I told Jeff I wanted to write a book four years ago. In 2017. Two years passed before I posted my first blog, and another year before I shared my second writing.

I am not quick like the Energizer bunny. Currently, I’m a snail. While I may move at only .03 mph, I am moving. My one line a day journal suits me just fine in this season.

Whatever you do, or how quickly you do it, work as though you’re working for the Lord. (Colossians 3:23)

Pick your pace. Then, keep going.

There’s one week left in January 2021. How are you progressing in your goals, resolutions or whatever you choose to call the thing you’re pursuing? Whether you’re starting or re-starting, take these three with you:

Trust baby steps.
Find a hand to hold.
Keep going.

They are how Abby Kate learned to walk, and they’ll help us get where we’re going, too.

“… Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless”

(1 Corinthians 15:58)

I lost 40 pounds in 2016. I found 8 of them in 2020.

OK. 11 of them.

I made up my mind to lose weight 5 years ago (though in August, not January). My first day in a WW (formerly Weight Watchers) workshop I expected the coach to be kind. She was. I also expected her to sugar coat my start. She didn’t.

As I explored the WW app on my phone, I discovered the number one reason I was 40 pounds too heavy for my health. Sweet tea. I was drinking it almost literally by the gallon. A day.

Lisa, my WW leader, didn’t water it down.

“Decide what’s worth it,” she said.

So, I did. And I have a closet of 4-sizes-smaller clothes to show for it.

There are a lot of motivations this month that advertise “New Year! New You!” They encourage us to lose weight, save money, or set goals with the fantasy that those things will fix us.

I did lose weight but guess what? It didn’t create a new me, just a thinner me.

On the inside I’m still Julie Echols Reyburn.

I still have a lazy streak.
I still forget things.
I still like sweet tea.

I am, however, an improved me, irrelevant to the number on a scale or the size of my clothes. I’m better because I realized a confidence along my months-long weight loss journey that has helped me do hard things.

I can learn discipline.
I can create healthy habits.
I can inspire others.

Those strengths will help me shed the next 8 pounds.

OK. 11 pounds.

A quote circulating through social media suggests it is not enough to build a better me, that instead my energy should be used to imitate Jesus. Yes, the Bible instructs us “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

It also says “we are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) and “we are His workmanship.” (Ephesians 2:10.)

His workmanship.
His works of art.
His masterpieces.

God has uniquely equipped each one of us with gifts and talents. We should absolutely hone and refine those parts of us. Ephesians 2:10 affirms this saying we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

God has a specific plan for each of us. When we pursue our best selves in service to Him and others, we fulfill His purpose. We also spur people around us towards their potential.

As you consider your dreams for 2021 find peace in this: the world doesn’t need a new you. It needs the best you. And you’re invited to become the person God created you to be on any day, not just the ones to start a new year.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

(Ephesians 2:10)