Love is patient, love is kind.
It’s time to start looking ahead at the new year in front of us: 2026!
I am not really the New Year's resolutions type. Growth should be a year-round practice, not something reserved for January 1st. But I do like to be intentional about how I enter into a new year.
At the beginning of this month, we focused on 7 Contemplations to End the Year Right. In that same spirit, this week we will go through 7 Questions to Start the Year Right.
Today’s question: What’s one attitude, behaviour, or personal snare I want to put off this year with renewed commitment?
Some helpful follow-up questions could be:
- If I asked people, what would they honestly answer is the most destructive habit in my personal relationships?
- Am I as convinced as they are that this is a problem?
In my favourite daily devotional–The Bible in One Year by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel–Nicky Gumbel describes how, inspired by a missionary, he tried to start each day by reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and for the word ‘love’ he would substitute his own name. When he reached a characteristic he knew wasn’t true of him, he had to stop. His aim was, one day, to get through the whole list.
He writes:
The four verses (1 Corinthians 13:4–7) start with ‘love is patient’. So I substituted my own name and started with ‘Nicky is patient’. I do not think it will come as any surprise to those who know me well that I had to stop there!
It’s a powerful yet humbling exercise! I don’t think I would get much further than Nicky. What about you?
Nevertheless, that shouldn’t stop us from trying. Let’s step into 2026 with renewed commitment to grow, change, and love better than we did before.
