No verse.

Dear God, it’s the first day of a new year. The irony is that so many people put artificial expectations on this day as a day of turning pages, but life doesn’t seem to be a respecter of the calendar. For example, 2020 had a lot of rough spots, with the spread of a brand new pandemic, a very contentious election cycle, a difficult economy with lots of lost jobs, etc. Everyone was ready to say goodbye to 2020! But within the first two months, there was an attempted overthrow of the government in which the lives of many of our leaders were in peril, there was a freeze that laid waste to most of Texas (where I live) for a solid week, and more people died in the first few months of the year from the pandemic because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas surges. Since then, while there is money in the economy, inflation is high, supply chains are in tatters, and businesses, ironically, are having difficulty finding labor. The gap between the rich and the poor grew greater, with affordable housing becoming harder to find. We found that we could not will or wish away the frustrations of 2020 by flipping the calendar to 2021.

On a personal level, I had some amazingly wonderful things happen and some tragic things happen. I’ve experienced great victories and tremendous sorrow. I’ve experienced incredible love and shocking betrayal. I’d love to say that flipping the calendar from December 31, 2021, to January 1, 2022, will bring the healing I desire and the victories I seek. But I think that might just be the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.

So what am I to do? It’s simple, really. Be faithful. Be faithful in worshipping you. Be faithful in repenting to you and others when I need to–and you know that I often need to. Cultivate the soil of my heart so that your Holy Spirit will be able to plant seeds and they will grow into your fruit. That includes not letting the cares of this world distract me from you. And I need to listen to your still small voice and let it guide me in my personal life, in my vocational work, and in my work in the community. I need you to inspire me and then I need to lean into you for that inspiration.

Father, it’s also often a time for resolutions, and I am, indeed, resolving to do something this year. There is a podcast that not only reads through the entire Bible in a year, but also does some exposition and teaching on the passages. My wife listened to it last year, and I think she got a lot out of it. So I am going to try to do that this year. More of you and more teaching from your Word can’t hurt. So help me to use that to tend the soil of my heart, and may the fruit of your Spirit grow in me and through me so that, regardless of the circumstances around me, I might be at peace in the center of your will.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen