Spiritual Measurement

About this time every year, I write our family Christmas newsletter. I have been writing one since the mid-90s to tell our family and friends far from us what the Zs have been up to all year. Job changes, relocations, successes, challenges, milestones ... it's all in there. It is almost obsolete for most, since folks on Facebook can keep up with us all year, but it's still a fun microcosm of our year as a family. As we look back on old ones, we can see where we've been and how far we've come.

There is another sort of year end evaluation I like to do, too. It's a Spiritual Measurement. Every year, I had my Sunday School kids fill one out and would mail their last years answers to them in the New Year. The questions include:

• Do I spend time reading God’s Word and talking with Him daily?
• Do I look forward to fellowshipping with the Lord?
• What fruit of the Spirit is apparent in my life?
• Do I talk about Jesus with people who don’t know Him?
• How am I using my spiritual gift or gifts?
• Do I have a generous and giving spirit?
• How much better do I know God today than I did a year ago?

I found these questions in an Our Daily Bread deovtional written by Cindy Hess Kasper in 2006. It is interesting to see the answers from year to year to see, again, where we've been and how far we've come.

This may be an exercise the two of you will want to do either together or separately at the end of each year. Sure the newsletter if you want to, but the Spiritual Measurement for sure. And if you see that you are not making progress spiritually in an area, then perhaps focus on that in the new year. 

Discussion: As each other the questions above? What do you need improvement on? Do you plan on writing a newsletter at Christmas?

Prayer: Father, our journey to you includes so much growth and we pray that we can examine that growth yearly to know where are weaknesses that we may continue to improve and become more like Christ and where are strengths are that we may use them to your glory. In Jesus name, Amen.