Ah that happy new year feeling. 2025 is here and I’m all for it. I may have dropped a few dad jokes to my kids on the morning of the 1st January about how it feels like a year since I last saw them.
A new year represents a new start and with it often comes new words and fresh vision. Across the internet right now, people are posting their goals and plans. I appreciate the enthusiasm and do feel reasonably swept up in it too. It is exciting to dream again and wonder about the endless possibilities that the year can bring.
But… have you noticed that no one ever gets a negative word for the year?
2025, the year of pestilence, loss and heartbreak.
Doesn’t quite have the ring to it.
Sign me up instead for abundance, riches and possibility.
I am not sure I’ve ever been one of those people who has a word for the year. For me, every day feels like a new start and the new year is merely an added layer to that constant process of getting vision for the next season.
So imagine my surprise when a word did drop into my heart (whilst posting some holiday snaps on the old Insta stories).
It was the word LIMITATION.
Not really the sort of word anyone signs up for.
But interestingly enough, I have spent the last few years growing in my understanding of my own limits. Thus I know that limitation is not as frustrating as it sounds.
- Limitation means boundaries.
- Limitation means focus.
- Limitation means obedience.
- Limitation means trusting God.
I think the biggest mistake we could make with 2025 is to take back control. Often we start with great energy (too much of it) and try to start with overexertion.
If we start the new year strong then we’ll have momentum, we think to ourselves.
But this so-called momentum is often just code for self-sufficiency and striving.
Here are a few ways limitation can serve us.
1. Limitation forces us to be led
That classic Psalm 23 vibe asserts that the Lord is my shepherd and that there is no lack because of it. Oftentimes we are moving too quickly to be led by the Holy Spirit. We assume every opportunity should be taken and every door should be opened.
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. In fact most sin can be described as some sort of distortion of goodness.
- Marriage is good but best keep it only to one.
- Mince pies are good but don’t go wild on the cream (just throwing in some confession here).
- Alcohol is good but has some obvious downsides in excess.
- Leadership is good until it moves into control and manipulation.
- Work is good until we give too much of ourselves to it.
- Money is good until we trust in it.
The list goes on.
We can be so enamoured with goodness that we assume that it is always God’s will for us to take every opportunity.
To be led is to pay attention to the Holy Spirit. Which doors should we be entering into in 2025? Which doors should we leave closed?
Living this way actually takes us out of striving and into a place of trust. Which in turn creates a tremendous sense of peace and rest internally. But it does require the courage.
I recorded a recent podcast episode all about our need to say no – you can listen to it here.
I don’t want to go beyond the limitations of obedience this year. I want to be led by the Holy Spirit.
2. Limitation prevents injury
Exactly two years ago, I started getting serious about my physical fitness. Since then pretty much every weekday (5x per week) I’ve been working out and developing a better relationship with my body.
There have been so many lessons from the last 24 months and I’m thoroughly enjoying the process. One of these learnings has been around understanding the tricky tension between pushing yourself in the gym and the need for rest.
It turns out this is far more complicated than I realised. When we lift weights beyond what we are used to, we end up tearing our muscle fibres. It’s in the recovery process that the muscles actually grow back (hopefully) a bit bigger.
But there are so many factors to consider here. If you’re not sleeping well then the body won’t be able to fully recover. And if you’re stressed then your sleep is disrupted and you’re not in the correct nervous system state for recovery.
On top of that if you’re not getting the right nutrition (e.g. protein) then your body will struggle to repair.
So if we’re stressed out and not looking after ourselves, we can push as hard as we want in the gym but the results will be minimal. Actually it’s more likely that we’ll go backwards.
It’s taken me a while to figure out how hard to push myself whilst also factoring in everything else happening in my life too.
Many of us as we start the new year are planning all sorts of grand things like starting a business, memorising the entire New Testament in Greek, becoming a calisthenics pro and more. Might I suggest that you slow the heck down. Trying to fit too much in is a sure way to injure yourself.
Whether that’s through burnout down the line, not having space for play and life-giving relationships or simply getting ill more often. If you embrace limitation, ironically you’ll actually become more productive.
I have known (and still know) plenty of high-achieving people who work like crazy. I do feel called to these types of people because honestly by default I’m wired the same way. But to live at this level of intensity, you end up looking to other things to cope. Substances, porn, you name it. Frequently crashing with exhaustion is a badge of honour when achievement is an idol.
Injury isn’t fun. Especially when there’s no one to blame but yourself. There’s another way and called limitation.
Limitation takes courage. It’ll require some difficult conversations with those who have been accustomed and appreciative of your overwork. Sadly this happens in the church perhaps as much as it does in the world. If you’re interested in understanding how honour culture plays a part in encouraging overwork – you should read this.
3. Limitation increases joy
With such easy access to entertainment (who’s enjoying Skeleton Crew??), we are deeply uncomfortable with boredom. It only takes me a few seconds of sitting still to whip open my phone and cycle through my classic apps.
Instagram, BBC news, WhatsApp etc
(Side note: I’ve got some thoughts about what the future of social media will begin to look like if you’re interested. Listen here.)
I’ve also experienced so much joy through learning to be more still. Practising mindfulness, breathwork and becoming aware of my emotions has honestly become so life-giving. I don’t see these things as opposing to prayer and my relationship with Jesus but deepening it. As I journey inwards to dig around my soul, I invite the Holy Spirit in too. I can only share with God what I am aware of. I search my own heart so I can come in humility to him.
Doing less is the recipe to deeper thinking and serendipity. For creatives, that spark of inspiration is worth everything. It nearly always comes when you least expect it in the ordinary moments that you’d otherwise skip.
One of the big social losses of the pandemic was the commute. We stopped having to endure the useless tube adverts and endless escalators. We lost that additional margin of thinking time.
I’ve started to lean into boring tasks. Cleaning the house. Preparing meals. Tidying the desk. Sweeping the floor. Walking to the shop.
Please don’t think I’m pretending to be this super guru who walks through the day in a constant state of zen. But I have started to appreciate life in all of its simplicity and intricacy more and more.
Some of us seek to lose this ordinary aspect of life. We want to be on a beach in Bali or some other exotic location. We want to make our millions so we can sell up and escape the everyday grind.
But perhaps in doing so we will discover what many of us have known all along. Life is designed with limits. God-given limits. You can’t escape them so don’t become miserable trying.
Challenging our metrics for success is an important part of learning to embrace our limits.
The last podcast episode of 2024 was dedicated to this topic – listen here.
Some quick reflection questions for you.
What is God saying yes to in 2025?
What is God saying no to in 2025?
How comfortable and aware of your physical, mental and spiritual limits are you?
And…
What’s driving you? Really?
Here’s to embracing limitation in 2025.