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Isolation and Improvement Don’t Mix

It’s that resolution-packed time of year. People are turning the first page of paper planners, signing into new productivity apps, and crossing their fingers that a new dry-erase calendaring system will keep 2024 running smoothly. It’s a season when many are quick to look to tools and techniques for productivity and purposefulness, hoping to build a meaningful year.

In a recent CT article, Hannah Anderson prompts readers to remember a critical component of the Christian life, whether we’re in a time of abundant growth or simply trying to make it to the next day: one another.

“Christian tradition holds that the work of personal transformation is so large that it requires an entire community (Eph. 4:11–13),” writes Anderson.

A desire to grow, improve, and make beautiful things happen can be good. But endeavoring to do it all on our own? That’s not the life that God intended for us.

As we take our first steps into the new year, may we do so within the context of a Christian community—one that reminds us how beloved we are both when we reach our goals and when we don’t.

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