2017 Word of the Year: Tune

This year’s word came to me after reading a quote from Tim Keller’s devotional The Songs of Jesus a few days ago.

All of nature sings God’s glory; we alone are out of tune. The question is this: How can we be brought back into the great music?

 The answer is found in salvation through Christ and the life-long sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. In this world, we continue to struggle with a heart that is frequently out of tune with God and what He is doing in our lives. We also battle selfishness, which causes us to tune out the needs of others.

It looks like there will be some changes coming in the next year or so which are necessary, but very emotionally difficult for me. My heart is having a hard time staying – or even wanting to be – in tune with God’s leading. It will take time and God’s strength to let go and move on. I appreciated the fourth definition of “tune” that came up when I Googled it:

[to] adjust or adapt (something) to a particular purpose or situation

I need God to do a heart adjustment in me so that I will be ready and willing to do His will.

I’ve also been thinking of how “tune” relates to my relationships to my kids. Mystie calls my MBTI type (INFP), as applied to homeschoolers, the “tuned-in homeschool mom”; but I know I could do a better job of providing opportunities and encouragement for each of my children to try new things and pursue their interests. I will have another teenager later this year – a young man! – and I need wisdom to help him start to spread his wings while also knowing how to avoid the evil in the world. I need to be diligent to pray for my children and be tuned-in to what God is doing in their lives.

Consistency in using my planner to schedule and referring to it throughout the week will help me stay tuned-in to life in general and not forget appointments or just drift from day to day. While I’ve liked some aspects of bullet journaling, having to write out weekly pages and having too little space on the monthly calendars I printed out and glued in my journal have been hindrances to using it as much as I should (i.e. I’m too lazy to use a bullet journal successfully 😉 ).  So I bought myself a planner for Christmas, and hope that the weekly layouts and three sections for each day (I’ll use it for morning, noon, and night activities) will help me stay on track.

“Tune” brings to mind music, and I have enjoyed the greater emphasis we have had on music and composers in Morning Time this past fall. I plan to continue that in 2017, but I also want music to permeate our home in general beyond Morning Time. Growing up, classical music was often on in the background, and I know that contributed to my deep appreciation of it. I want that for my children, too.

I also want us all to tune in more to the “music of the spheres”. The three older boys received binoculars for star-gazing for Christmas, and I will add H.A. Rey’s Find the Constellations to our Morning Time schedule.

Later in the devotion I quoted above, Keller quotes from the hymn ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’ the line: “Tune my heart to sing Thy praise”. That is my prayer for 2017 – that I would be so in tune with God that I would be able to praise Him no matter what happens.

May you have a blessed New Year!

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