29 Dec Facing the New Year with Courage and Hope

The winter night brings a chill and so I plod across our backyard through leaves I meant to rake weeks ago, coming to a stop beside the blazing fire filled with boxes, papers, wrappings and scribbles whose remnants turn to molten ash before my eyes.

I take a breath of the cold night air and become awakened to the moment, my mind breathing in contemplation at the year that is now gone, the year whose path has been trod, never to be faced again.

Will you join me, friend? In a quiet moment, could you turn one last time and look back? To remember what you just walked through?

365 days contain more moments than can ever be remembered: Tired moments, scared moments, elated moments, humbling moments, joyous moments, pivotal moments, mundane moments, tender moments, invigorating moments, loving moments, hurtful moments, praiseworthy moments.

Have you encountered any wonders this year? Had any jaw-dropping moments when you recognized a beauty you never knew existed on the planet?

Has your heart been warmed by a friend’s caring words? Have you cheered when their arms embraced you? Have they held you when you cried tears you never knew you would need to cry?

Have your dreams been dashed and re-awakened and dashed again? Have you wrestled to find sleep when anxious thoughts have dominated?

And yet…have you seen God at work in places, people, and areas of your own heart you never thought possible?

Beauty from Ashes

For each of us, this year has contained moments and even seasons of loss and pain. Before we rush headlong into the year ahead (itself filled with mountains and valleys alike) can we take a few moments to give God our pain, our anger, our frustrations, our disappointments and losses from the year we are leaving behind?

Can we lay them at the feet of our God, who is Himself a consuming fire, and leave them there? Can we trust that He can make beauty from these ashes, joy from this mourning, even causing praise to birth from heaviness?

Look long at 2016, friend. Remember and rejoice in its beauties. Learn from your trials. Grow through the pain.

Let go – even toss in the fires of His love anything toxic or untrue. Choose to forgive the offenses of others. Confess your own sins and find freedom, joy, and lightness of heart.

Even after all of this, there will be scars that remain. Embrace them as you walk into the new year, for they bear lessons worth sharing.

When your children ask you about them, you can tell of the faithful and redeeming love of  God in the most broken and painful places of your life.

And you can walk with courage and faith into all the unknowns of the year ahead because you serve a known God who promises to walk with you every step of 2017