By now, if you’re reading this as it’s posted, you’re settling into the new year. The novelty has worn off, and the quiet question begins to surface: what will come of all this? We want fruit, clarity, peace and even evidence that the effort matters. However, Scripture gently redirects our attention away from outcomes and back toward abiding.

“Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit,” Jesus says in John 15:5. Fruit is not something we manufacture. It grows naturally when the root is healthy. We are shaped by what we attach ourselves to, and over time, that attachment always produces something.

Our culture trains us to measure quickly. We want to assess progress prematurely so we can decide whether something is worth continuing based on visible results. However, the life of the Spirit resists this kind of evaluation.

What God grows is often concealed long before it is revealed.

When we aim directly at outcomes, we often miss them, but when we aim at abiding, fruit comes in its proper season.

Peace shows up quietly.
Character deepens slowly.
Faith strengthens in ways that cannot be graphed.

At the beginning of a new year, we are tempted to manage results instead of trusting formation. Yet Scripture invites patience instead. “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9). The harvest belongs to God. Our role is faithfulness.

In other words, we are responsible for the input. God is responsible for the output.
We are responsible for the effort. He is responsible for the outcome.

To have what God desires to give us, we must release our grip on control. This kind of surrender is not resignation. It is confidence that God is at work even when we cannot see it yet.

If we remain and MAKE ROOM for Him, walk obediently, and stay rooted in presence, the fruit will come; not because we forced it but because this is how life with God works.

Be before do.
Do before have.
Presence before obedience.
Obedience before outcome.

This is not a strategy for a better year.
It is the way of Jesus, our treasure and our prize.