Personal Year End Reflection
After the hustle and bustle of the season, and at the start of a fresh new year, I find this a good time to take extra time for personal reflection. To slow down and glean what we can from the year behind and head intentionally into the year ahead.
Here are some questions I use to intentionally take a longer check-in with God about how I’m really doing and where I am headed. This is designed to do alone, between you and God, but it could certainly also effectively be used as a team reflection time.
I’ve done this reflection at the beginning of the last two years. I started with a list of questions I came across on a blog, each year I’ve added a few more questions and tweaked a few questions. So feel free to tweak and change the questions to fit your priorities, just don’t avoid asking the tough questions!
You’ll notice it is largely focused on our character and relationships. These two things are such a window into how we are doing as leaders and as followers of Jesus. As Shane Farmer says “Kingdom momentum flows through the purity of the leaders.” As leaders, this is a tool to help us continue to take personally responsibility for our own leadership, seeking God’s purity for our lives, behaviours and attitudes. It’s a tool to help us see where blind spots, temptation or evil may be creeping into our lives. It’s a tool to aid us in continuing to seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.
May God meet you in your time of reflection. Happy New Year!
Soul & Character
- How am I doing displaying the fruits of the Spirit? Which ones seem to have been more challenging over this last year? In what kinds of situations?
- Having I been seeking first God’s Kingdom and righteousness or something else?
- Where has my character grown over the last year? How?
- Where do I need to pay particular attention to my character over the next year?
- How’s my heart and soul?
- How’s my health? (mental, physical & emotional)
- Looking at the above: Where do I need help and prayer?
Relationships
- How has my attitude been towards the leaders and the team that God has put around me? Am I being a team player?
- How are my relationships?
- Anyone who needs more of my attention?
- Anyone to whom I need to offer forgiveness?
- Anyone to whom I need to ask for forgiveness?
- How am I communicating to my family, in action and words, that I love and care for them? Are they getting the message?
- How am I communicating to my team their value?
Learning from the last year
- What am I thankful for over the last year?
- What surprised me most?
- Where have I been stretched?
- What has been the hardest?
- What has been the most fulfilling?
- What has been disappointing?
- Where did I fail?
- What has been encouraging?
- What am I waiting for?
- What blessings have I seen in the waiting?
- Where have I seen God at work?
- What are the lessons from the past year, to carry forward?
Vision and mission
- How have I personally been a part of joining God in changing Atlantic Canada one neighbourhood at a time (or whatever your vision is)?
- How have I lead others to be an important part of joining God in changing Atlantic Canada one neighbourhood at a time (or whatever your vision is)?
- Where is there progress in the vision (whatever your vision is)?
- Where are there roadblocks in the vision?
- Are your next steps clear? What are they?
Year Ahead – Looking over what you’ve just written (all of the above)
- Is there a particular area of life that needs your attention?
- What do you most want to accomplish over the next year?
- Who do you want to spend time with over the next year? How?
- What are you most looking forward to in the year ahead?
- What scares you in the year ahead?
- What’s your prayer for the year ahead?
May you see God in your reflection. May you know God breaking into your neighbourhood in fresh ways in 2015!
-Renée r_embree