A Time to Reflect on 2012 (Part 1)

Ecc. 3:1  "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven”

You have to be on purpose if you want to slow the hustle and bustle.

I can think of no better way to cultivate a heart of gratitude than to purposefully look for the hand of God in your life.

Make this family project a tradition for your family.

Grab your calendar and reflect with your family over the past year.

Other places to look-  pictures, blog posts, journals, magazines, checkbook/bills- any place that might chronicle the past few months.

Begin the process by going through each month, starting in January

Go through each day, each week, each month.  On my calendar, I tend to make “trigger notes”*, little notations throughout the year that help to trigger our memory of what happened that day.

  • Look for any “firsts” in your family
  • Did someone learn to walk, talk, drive, cook, swim, etc.?
  • What were some personal achievements?  Run a 5K, hunt, lose weight, overcome a fear
  • Name some new friends that you met for the first time this year.
  • What places did you travel this year?
  • Did you read any outstanding books, articles, blog posts, etc. this year?  Which ones?
  • Births?  Deaths?
  • Special wins?  Painful losses?
  • Name some new skills that you learned this year.
  • National tragedies or achievements (ex. – storms/weather incidents or Olympic firsts/wins)

Each day this week, gather your family around the dinner table.
Go through only 1-2 months each evening. Keep it fun!  The whole year in one night, might kill the joy of this project.

Choose one person to be the family scribe.
Their job is to write down all the cool things that your family wants to remember.

*Tip- I use my family calendar.  See an example of my calendar.   The "trigger notes" are on the month-at-a-glance section.   I then record the detailed memories from our family in the daily section of the calendar.

I hope that you will join us.  This is an incredible way to record God’s faithfulness to your family and create a family treasure at the same time.

You will never regret the time you take for this project.  That’s a promise!

Next week we will talk about Part 2: A Heart of Thanks For 2012.

memory lane photo credit: alexbfree via photopin cc

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  1. […] you are joining in for the first time this week, be sure to read Part 1, where we reflected on the past 12 months.  We took the time to write down and remember the many […]

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