Leaping into February!

An Extra Day and a Free Printable

Leap Year gives us the gift of February 29th, so if you’re already feeling as if 2024 is getting away from you, I hope you’ll see that extra day as a gift and a buffer. In the buffering spirit, I’m sharing two life-giving practices and a free printable to get you started on one of those practices.

Two Life-Giving Practices

1. The 2024 Hymnal Project

My husband teases me about my book piles. They’re just part of the topography here, and on top of my journal, Bible, and commentary, I’ve added a hymnal to my devotional pile. This year it’s the 1972 version of Living Hymns.

At the rate of one hymn per day, I’m reading the lyrics, thinking about the invitation to worship they provide, maybe turning some of them into a prayer—but what gets recorded in my journal is how the hymn names or refers to God.

Here’s a sampling: Almighty King, Giver of Immortal Gladness, My God and King, Gracious Master, Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days, the Lamb upon His Throne, Matchless King, My Surety, Great Father of Glory, He Whose Word Cannot Be Broken.

Amazing right?

I want to invite you into this practice with me. If you keep a journal and are the sort of person who has a hymnal sitting on a piano or a bookcase at your house, you’re ready to roll.

But…
Maybe you feel the need for some structure to get you started? I’ve created a printable form that prompts you to record the date, title, page number, and your observations about God from the hymn. Just click the button and print a few pages to get started on your own hymnal project for 2024!

And if you don’t have access to a hymnal, there are several online sources of hymn lyrics you can check out. I’ve linked to a couple below…

2. Dusting Off My Knitting Needles

I love being “Bam” to six little Morins, and one way I can love them is by creating homemade mittens for them. There are still a few pairs of mittens my sons didn’t quite wear out tucked away in drawers for grandchildren to use when they’re here, but I’ve started with the tiniest hands and have decided to just work my way on up through the ranks to the hefty paws of the nine-year-old.

Of course, a side benefit of this practice is that it’s a practical occupational therapy that forces me to retain a level of dexterity that might otherwise be stolen more quickly by Parkinson’s disease. Too, I like to think that I’ve been knitting little prayers into each tiny pink stitch with this first completed pair.

I Love Being a Guest!

Every so often, Desiring God invites me to write for their website on a particular topic, and this time it was a subject of special importance to me: How Mothers Instill the Truth in Our Families. If you head over to read the article, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

And on February 13, I joined the women of Tenants Harbor Baptist Church to talk about hanging onto solid, biblical hope in a culture of despair.

My calendar for March is full with the exciting prospect of teaching women in South Waterboro on the 16th and Hope on the 23rd, and then encouraging parents on the 30th at Child Evangelism Fellowship’s Kids Can Know God conference.

Every month at the church I call home, I challenge the kids (and grown-ups) in Sunday school to learn a verse (and I’m not above bribing them with candy!). This month it’s Psalm 86:5:

“For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive, abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.”

Be sure to call on him often this month! (We even get an extra day!)

Holding You in the Light,

P.S. If this post has been helpful, I’d love it if you’d spread the word to your people by sharing it.

Let’s keep this letter conversational: What life-giving practices are you bringing into 2024? Are you going to join me in the Hymnal Project?

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