Subscriptions

Sometimes I think about how we use specific words. With a new year upon us, renewal is one of those words. The word itself suggests that something is being made new again. This feels like it would be appropriate for something broken. Then I think about how I typically use this word and, well, it has a very different feel. In June I renewed my vehicle registration and just a couple of weeks ago, my wife renewed a magazine subscription. Now it is true that these renewals bring about new timeframes, but honestly, all I’ve chosen to do is pay a fee to continue that which I was already doing.

Stepping into a new year with this idea in mind has caused me to look through a slightly different lens. In a sense, every action I choose to engage in is a sort of subscription whether it is related to my physical, spiritual, emotional, or relational health. And so I’m asking myself, “Which subscriptions am I willing to pay to maintain and which ones will I allow to expire?”

Our lifestyle is simply a set of subscriptions. We’ve chosen to include certain ones at the expense of others. How do I decide which ones to renew? There are a lot of good choices, though I find I often take on subscriptions that fit other people, rather than what God has for me. So, I’m starting the year with this question: why do I carry the subscriptions I do?

Heavenly Father, may the subscriptions of my life reflect the inner life you desire for me. Amen.

Throughout This Day: Invite your heavenly Father to direct your steps into so that you accomplish the good works he has prepared for you and avoid those he has not.