Being six years old seems to be a magical time.

After my daughter opened all her presents on Christmas morning, she snuggled up next to me on the couch with the little journal I’d picked up just a few days earlier for a dollar. As her new outfit, toys and books sat scattered on the floor, she grabbed a pen, sank into her notebook and didn’t look up for quite a while.

Over the next few days that journal - along with the other two she received from people who know and love her well - became a detective kit, a recipe book, a teacher’s list of “good students,” a diary of secret thoughts, a songwriting journal and a place to write stories.

See what I mean? Magical.

I look at a new journal and see lots of potential . . . for to-do lists, social media strategies and notes from brainstorming sessions or conference calls. Never once - at least in the past few decades - have I turned a blank page into a detective kit!

As we’ve pulled our calendars off the wall, bought new journals and clicked over to a new month - replacing the old year with a brand-new one full of blank spaces and possibility - have we allowed room for dreaming, for growing, for magic?

Of course I don’t mean magic with fairy dust, wands and spells. I don’t even really mean the kind of “magic” that comes from a six-year-old’s imagination.

What I mean is the transformation from ordinary to extraordinary that only happens when we leave plenty of room for God to move - and when we take time to watch and listen to the dreams and opportunities he’s placed in our hearts and our days.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—
his good, pleasing and perfect will.
{Romans 12:2}

When I considered setting goals for this new year, I knew it might be best to focus on just one word. I’m going to become a mother of two daughters in just a few days, and I suspect the beautiful chaos of a newborn will make this year an interesting one.

The Scriptures that kept coming to mind were ones about writing and sharing God’s message - something that calls to my writer’s heart, of course. But they seemed to have more, deeper meaning than to simply encourage my career and art. Eventually I realized God was asking me to step back and let Him REWRITE my life this year - my heart, my choices, my focus, my family, my marriage, and yes, even the obvious career and art of writing.

I’m coming to the final pages of my latest journal. I’ve filled it with blog post ideas, grocery lists, weekly plans to GET STUFF DONE - and doodles from that six-year-old who loves to write everything on everything. Every space is filled in an effort to squeeze more in (and not to waste my precious pages!). I don’t think those things I’ve recorded are inherently wrong, but when I crack open my new, blank journal this year, I plan to leave more space.

More space in the margins, more space between pages, more space in my heart and my life.

I want to leave room for God’s rewriting in my life.
I want to take time to rest in his fresh mercies.
I want to see Him reveal the magic of a new page.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
{Lamentations 3:22-23}

How are you leaving margin for magic this year?