Wise is the person who builds in time and mental space for reflection and review of the year past, and planning (and maybe even a little dreaming) for the year ahead. Culturally, we have this thing about New Year’s and resolutions, and if that works for you and makes sense for you, great. It’s a natural break, and this is one instance in which it really doesn’t matter what day you choose. I’m not a fan of New Year’s, though, and doubly not a fan of resolutions (they’re really more like wishful goals we make, often due to peer pressure, but don’t really intend to keep), and I don’t want to put much energy or effort into something like that. There’s another day that’s a natural break, and lends itself at least as well as New Year’s to this kind of reflection and intentional thinking, and that’s my first choice for myself. I’m speaking of course of one’s birthday, and as this week marked the close of my 32nd trip around the sun, I thought I’d share a few thoughts from the past year.
We live in quite the individualistic culture and society, and as residents of such a space, I think we’re inclined to discount the impact that friends have on our growth, maturity, and wellbeing. Proverbs has quite a few things to say about companions, and I’ve seen the truthfulness of those throughout the last year. In particular, friends have sharpened me (Pr 27:17), wounded me in faithfulness (Pr 27:6), made me wiser (Pr 13:20), and spoken life and healing (Pr 12:18, 15:4) to me. I’m thankful for those who have borne faithful witness to the good, the bad, and the ugly throughout the last year. The Lord has truly blessed me through these individuals.
Someone (Jen Wilkin? Juli Slattery? It’s been a couple years, and I don’t recall) once mentioned in an article or a podcast that daily Bible reading is a duty, a discipline, or a delight. We read it because we love the Word, because we know we should, or because we’d rather not but we do it anyway. Through the grace of God, the days I’ve made myself read even though I’d rather not were fewer than the days I read because I loved the Word and had a genuine desire to know the Lord more. That’s not something I did, but something the Lord did in me, and I’m glad to be able to see that over the past year.
Despite whatever chaos surrounds, the Lord reigns, and given all the turmoil that has surrounded in the last year, I’m glad I don’t. There. I’ve not just said it, but I’ve posted it on the internet for all to see: I’m glad I’m not in charge. More than that, I’m thankful that we can trust the One who does hold the world in the hollow of His hand to be wise, steadfast, merciful, loving, infinitely good, and yet infinitely just as well. He will not change, has not changed, and cannot change, and that offers such peace and comfort to all of us.
That immutability of the Lord is the most important part of the year ahead. I have some hopes, some dreams, some goals, and of course some plans, but ultimately they don’t matter. What matters is that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. All the potential, both good and bad, of an unknown year to come pales in comparison with that, and this time next year, that’s one thing that will be notable then too.
I agree that a new years resolution is rarely kept. We can change our path, with the Lords’ help, anytime during the year. Our birthday is a good time to reflect, no matter how many times around the sun we have been. As we look back we see how God has sustained us throughout last year and the years before. This gives me hope to face tomorrow and the next day. Like the poem “Footprints in the Sand”, when our need is the most, Jesus carries us.