A Decision for the New Year

     One of my favorite things to do is to get up early and sit in the quiet of the house before anyone else is awake.  I love to read God's Word or a good devotional book.  I like to pray and think about different topics.  I also find this is my best time to write a new post on my blog.  I love the absence of the television or other noise that starts after other family members begin to wake.  During the Advent and Christmas seasons I also love to sit and think beside our beautifully decorated tree. Each tiny light shines through the dark and reminds me of the light that Jesus brought when he was born.  So today, on the last day of this year, I am sitting in my place near the tree contemplating the things that have happened over the course of the last twelve months.  In the still of this morning I am also wondering with great anticipation what the new year will bring.  

     

     There is something about a new start that fills us with hope.  The whole slate-wiped-clean idea really appeals to most of us.  It is kind of like my love of opening a brand new box of crayons.  All the tips are perfect.  The paper that wraps them is clean and crisp.  They are all uniform in their size as they sit there in their beautiful box with no tatters or rough edges.  There is still a lid to open and close.  The bottom is not covered with tape to keep the brilliant colors from slipping through.  The potential of what these crayons can do is limitless!  But, as we all know the crayons do not stay this way if they are part of the bigger picture.  They get dirty and broken.  They are stepped on.  The lid of the box gets torn off and the rest starts to lose its shape.  Some of the crayons are lost when the bottom of the box falls open.  The broken pieces won't fit together in the ratty box anymore so it gets thrown away and the crayons are tossed together into another type of container.  Pieces of crayon without their outside covers begin to bump against each other.  They leave part of their color on other ones so sometimes the original hues are full of streaks.  They are changed.

     I often think about a year filled with only pleasant things and no hurts- a year in which everyone is happy and content. However, I would say if we took a look none of us would be able to find a year in our lives that didn't contain both the good and the bad.  That is the truth of this life here on earth.  The truth of a fallen world is that it cannot be good all the time.  Well.. that's enough to make you want to crawl back into bed and not come out again!  You might be done reading because you are thinking you already have enough negative and doom and gloom on your daily news! But wait!  Listen to what God wants you to hear!

Number 1-God wants a relationship with you! 

     This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.                                     1 John 4:9-10

God loves you, even if you have not loved him!  No matter where you have been in life or where you are now he wants you!  No matter what you have done or have not done he still wants to share in your life.  The thing is he already knows everything about you and he still wants to form a relationship with you that will change your life. 

 

Number 2- He makes everything new! Including you!

     This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."                                                                       Isaiah 43:16, 17-18

     Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:  The old has gone, the new is here!

                                                                                           2 Corinthians 5:17

The Bible repeatedly uses the example of God being a potter and making us into a vessel that he can use.  He has fashioned you already and will continue to make a beautiful thing out of you!  If only you let him, you will be amazed at the things he can do in your life.

Number 3- There will be good times in your life.  There will be bad times in your life.  He will stand by you through it all!

     So do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

                                                                                              Isaiah 41:10

     The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

                                                                                              Zephaniah 3:17

God's love for you is unconditional.  He will not give you every desire of your heart or what the world considers to be important.  He will give you exactly what you need when you need it.  He will never leave you or forsake you.

  

Number 4-God has given you everlasting life!

     For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                                                                                               Romans 6:23

   That if you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord"and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

                                                                                                Romans 10:9

Friends,on this last day of the year I pray that you will carve out some quiet time and think about these things.  I pray that God will move you to believe the things you have read.  If you already have a relationship with our Lord, then today at the dawning of the new year I pray he will bring you to a new commitment to that relationship.  I cannot tell you what will happen in your coming days but I can tell you that making a choice for God will never be a decision you regret.  Happy New Year!!  

     

     

Christmas Hope

     When the terrible tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary first reached my ears I was sitting in a classroom of five and six year olds.  The first reports told of the unimaginable happening.  The deaths of young children in a school shooting.  My eyes traveled around the classroom taking in the children I had come to know and love. The thought of one of them.....  my brain had to shut that thought off instantly.  It was too painful.  If there is one thing that I have learned in this era of instant news, Facebook, Twitter, blogging and all the other social media/technology out there it is to wait. Wait until the emotional roller coaster has started to wind down.  For you see, if I don't there will be things that I write or say that I might regret later. Still on this day, one day before Christmas, my heart breaks for those who have buried their family or friends.

      Today I am not writing in support of new or different gun control laws.  I will not throw in my two cents worth on the need for better mental health care.  I won't speak on the many tirades and ideas that have flown around since that day occurred.  What I will do, though, is write about what God has put in my heart at this time about grief.  Mere words of mine can't describe the thoughts and feelings of those affected by this tragedy.  But I will borrow some from the famous writer C.S. Lewis, who lost his wife to cancer over fifty years ago.

     No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing. At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me . . .   
     An odd by-product of my loss is that I’m afraid of being an embarrassment to everyone I meet. At work, at the club, in the street, I see people, as they approach me, trying to make up their minds whether they’ll say something about 'it’ or not. I hate it if they do, and if they don’t . . .    
    And grief still feels like fear. Perhaps more strictly, like suspense. Or like waiting; just hanging about waiting for something to happen. It gives life a permanently provisional feeling. It doesn't seem worth starting anything. I can’t settle down. I yawn, I fidget, I smoke too much. Up till this I always had too little time. Now there is nothing but time. Almost pure time, empty successiveness . . .  

                                                                                                 A Grief Observed (1961)

     I have felt this grief that Lewis talks about but there is good news!  Christmas is all about hope.  When the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was born it gave hope to the world!  He would grow up to fulfill a plan so amazing that humans still have trouble believing!  When Jesus took on the sins of the world and died for us he gave us the hope of eternal life.  We are no longer separated from God but can live with him forever.  Grief is never easy.  But I have seen grief without hope and it seems unbearable and never ending.  The words describing God's hope are found in scripture.

     And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,"Look! Now God's dwelling place is among the people and he will dwell with them.  They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."         Revelation 21:3-4

     It is inevitable that all of us will grieve at some point in our lives. My prayer is that you will be able through God's grace and mercy to be able to grieve with this comfort.  May you see this Christmas as a plan of hope fulfilled for all!

     Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, he is the Messiah, the Lord.
                                                                                             Luke 2:11

Untangled

  I don't know about you, but I am not a super organizer.  Our house would be a big hit on a new reality series-"Clutter Busters"!  It will never appear in those beautiful photography shoots in Better Homes and Gardens but it is home. I have long ago given up the idea that my skills would ever earn me the best housekeeper award but I am okay with that because it is not big on my priority list.  As you can imagine, when I put away our Christmas decorations for the year I don't have any lights that are wrapped neatly and stored in their original boxes.  So each year I have to go through the process of untangling the sets of lights.  The other day as I was doing this task I was thinking about how our lives can be just like that tangled mess.  

  I don't know if you've realized this but life is complicated.  Even when we are enjoying what we consider to be a good life there are bumps and twists and knots along the way.  I feel extremely blessed in my life right now but here is an example of how just a small hour of time can go awry. My teenage daughter wakes up late and realizes how little time she has to get ready.  The toast almost burns while putting a dog outside. After trying to find something to bring for lunch I am resigned to having to eat a school lunch not knowing what is being served. I put out dog number two and let dog number one in.  I try to finish getting ready as dog number two is barking to come in and dog number three is whining to go out.  I slap on some makeup and put out dog number three and wonder why they can't all go out at the same time.  I yell upstairs that it's time to go and hear that my daughter is not ready.  Trying to remain patient I put all three dogs in kennels. I run out to get yesterdays forgotten mail and come back in to hear my daughter screaming to turn on the breaker that has been knocked off by her hair dryer.  I go flip the switch and go to the car and try to breathe normally while the kid is rushing around the house trying to find everything she didn't pack up last night.  We leave ten minutes late and I listen to a very unhappy girl describe to me all the way to her school why it is my fault that this has happened.  As I drop her off I slump in exhaustion thinking about the work day looming ahead of me and how I'm going to get through it!

  Could you tell a similar story?  In the past a less patient, less wise self might have spewed hateful words at my young daughter.  Unfortunately my oldest daughter and husband could tell you about some of those times when I handled some tangled messes of life in a bad way.  Instead of trying to untangle them carefully like I have to with my strings of lights I would try to bull my way through not caring who got knotted up, squeezed or crushed in the meantime.  Over the years,though, God has shown me better ways to handle these jumbled situations with many nuggets of wisdom in his Word.  These are just an example of some of those.

      But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.      Galatians 5:22

     A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.     Proverbs 15:1

    The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.    

                                                                                                                        Proverbs 12:18

     "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"  Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself."  Matthew 22:36-37

     Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil,but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.                                                                                     1 Corinthians 13:4-7

  This transformation of being able to handle life's stresses and demands and to act in a more Christ-like way did not happen over night.  God, like a potter molding his clay, has molded me.  Through prayer, faith and thanksgiving I have become a kinder, wiser and more gentle person.  I have learned to look at the race marked out for me and the prize--eternal life-that I will receive. Life's mangled paths become easier with the help of God, his Son and the Holy Spirit.  Every one of us can experience this life through Him.  So give him a chance and join me to get Untangled.