A New Year

I have just hung a 2013 calendar on the wall.  It currently has no appointments recorded in the spaces and only indicates the special days and holidays. I’m wondering what this new year will hold.  What will fill the empty spaces on my personal calendar that records another chapter of my life and what transformational events await?  What decisions will I make, actions will I take that will impact others? There is no crystal ball upon which to gaze, for life is filled with uncertainties.

It has been said, “Life is a gift; that’s why it’s called the present.” As a new year begins we need to acknowledge the gift that every day represents and consider how to use our gift(s) to the fullest.  The idea of developing a list of “resolutions” this time of year causes us to consider what we want to do differently – how we want to live life more fully.  While resolutions may be helpful, I find that they rarely last.  I believe a new year challenges us with a more important exercise, as we address this question:  “What more do we want to accomplish?” For me this is a faith question that challenges me to examine my life in relationship to the Presence offered through faith.

An elderly church member once told me about her prayer life.  She indicated that she began each day in prayer by asking, “Lord, what would you have me do today?” We begin to find an answer to that question when we pause from the ordinary and routine, and the demands and expectations imposed upon us to listen for the ”still small voice” as God speaks. 

 

We are never too old to dream dreams of a preferred future and our role in it.  Indeed, the new year ushers in the beginning of another chapter of our individual legacies.  My hope is that each of us will enter this coming New Year with assurance that God goes before us preparing the way, and still offers us guidance and strength to face each day.  As we respond to the opportunities of faith living, may we be found faithful.