A New Year

Well, it's time for that all-important trek down the reflective lane with hopes of changing a life so that the next year is better than the last year. Right? Sure ...

I am an old, old lady (you know that's my standard life-phrase, right?). But, I've been around this world long enough to know that New Year's resolutions generally fail and what is left is at best disappointment in oneself. What I've learned is that I can't resolve to change myself simply because a year is turning over.

What I can do is be thankful that God gives us new seasons for hope and change on a constant basis. "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Every single morning we receive the gift of a new day and the opportunity to make that day better than the one before. Tomorrow morning (New Year's Day) will bring the beginning of a new day, a new month and a new year.

I want to go just a bit further in the book of Lamentations (3:24-26) "I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

There are a lot of things about God that are in total opposition to what we have learned in this world. We have learned to be a people of action, always doing, always achieving, always pushing forward to the next goal. And yet, God tells us over and over that we should allow Him to do the work and when we allow Him to be in control, things will be more blessed than if we were to do it ourselves.

Yet we don't seem to get it.

Luke 12:22-26, 28b-31.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: 'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? ...

... O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.' "

So, what will my response be to this? Learning to survive without reliance on self? That's nearly impossible. But, if I were to make any resolution for this new year it is to keep myself open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in my life.