The hands of time have turned another page in history. 2012 is gone, and 2013 is upon us. What will this New Year bring to us? Many are happy to see 2012 fade away. For some it was a tough year of illness or loss, and they are looking eagerly to better days in 2013. For others, they hope the blessings of the last year will extend into the new one.

I sometimes think how funny it is how much we live by the calendar. I understand that marking the passage of time helps us to keep our sanity. Many prison walls are marked to keep up with the passing days. Still, I wonder if God is sometimes amused by our time keeping. What binds us, surely does not bind him. Deadlines that stress us, and full calendars that control us, must amuse him just a little.

What would happen if we cleared our calendars? I’m serious. What if we got out of bed every day, and gave over our plans, our appointments, and our agendas to him? The Bible tells us that his mercies are new every morning, (Lamentations 3:22-23) but most of us just jump out of bed with our minds full of what we have planned to do that day, and never stop to receive those mercies. We live our lives under our own might, our own strength. We scoot through our days accomplishing what we believe must be accomplished for that day, finding ourselves frustrated when someone, or something, thwarts our plans.

What if we took time each day of 2013, received the mercy of God, and allowed him to set our day’s agenda? I think our days, our calendars, would look completely different. The anxiety that full schedules and unmanageable lives bring would begin to fade. I think those things would be replaced with a greater life of purpose, and the things we could accomplish would amaze us.

The God of the universe has a unique plan for our lives. Can our unique plans for our lives compete with his? Do we really think we know better? Sometimes I do. Most times, I do.

What if for 2013 our New Year’s resolution would be to clear our calendar? What if we made room for his agenda each day? It means giving up control of our lives to his will and his way. For some of us, giving up that control is stressful, but what if we tried it? How about we start with January? Let’s give him January and see what happens. We can easily take back the reigns come February first, and begin fixing whatever it is he has messed up.

Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Of course it does. We know in our hearts, full well, that if we hand our days, calendars, schedules and lives over to him, we won’t be able to comprehend what he has in store for us. He can do immeasurably more than we can even ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20)

Let’s just face it. That’s a bit scary.

For God to do immeasurably more than we can comprehend can actually cause us to hold even more tightly to our lives. But what if we let him? What if we gave him January? Thirty-one days to let him do whatever he wants. We wake up every day, and give him our schedules and our plans. We allow for his adjustments and rewrites. We stop seeing traffic jams, schedule delays, and interruptions as problems and understand that they are all happening right on schedule. His schedule. When our paths cross with others, we’ll know those are divine appointments.

Of course, we could keep on with the way we’ve been doing things, but why would we? Why would we when there could be so much more? Let’s start every day of January 2013 with a conversation, a meeting with the Almighty to set the agenda for the rest of the day. You might just be surprised by where your days take you. It’s just thirty-one days. What could happen?