It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? We are about to place 2018 in the history
books and welcome a new year. While the
end of the year is naturally a time for reflection, looking back over what has
past, it is also a time of looking ahead into a more hopeful and promising
future.
I love the
passage from the ancient Song of Solomon, “Lo, the winter is past; the rains
have come and gone. Flowers appear on
the earth, the time of singing has come.”
We are about to plunge into the heart of literal winter, but in a
symbolic sense the new year is a time to say goodbye to the winter of
discontent and welcome a hopeful season of renewal and promise.
With this in
mind, I want to share three heartfelt commitments for the new year. I hesitate to use the word “resolutions,”
although that is what they are. But a
resolution can be most anything from major life changes to nitpicky
details. (I really want to find a better
way to keep up with all my passwords—isn’t that a resolution?) But a commitment is a deeper resolution that
is grounded in my very being.
My first
commitment for 2019 is to live every day to the fullest and to savor every life
experience. In the second chapter of
Genesis, God creates man by breathing into the dust of the ground the breath
(the Hebrew word means Spirit) of life.
My existence is totally dependent on God’s life-giving spirit. As my friend, Pierluigi, in Italy said, “Ray,
we all live under the sky. Life is a
gift and so we must “carpe diem,” seize the day!” I have been blessed to experience life for
almost 65 years—I don’t know how many years, or even how many days, I have
left. I want to cherish every day and
live each day to the fullest, glorifying God in all that I do.
Secondly, I want
to see the good in every person. If we
believe that every person is created in the image of God, then we must believe
that there is inherent goodness, or at least the potential for goodness, in
every individual. Social media has made
it too easy to criticize, to complain, and to focus on the negative. We witness character assassinations at the
highest levels. My commitment is to
build people up, not to tear people down.
Jesus had the remarkable ability to see the Godly potential in people
who were rebuked and scorned by even the most religious and pious. A woman at the well, a prostitute, an
unethical tax collector, a thief who was dying on the cross—he said he had come
to seek and to save the lost. If someone
is lost, it means they can be found. I
want to see the good, to lift up the fallen, and to share the way of light to
those who are lost in darkness.
My third
commitment as we embark on this new year is to do all that I can to enrich the
lives of others in redemptive ways. I
want to be a part of the solution rather than creating or exasperating a
problem. I want to make a difference in
the lives of others, for that is what God has called us to. Love God and love your neighbor—the two
greatest commandments. Jesus told us
that the greatest among us are those who serve.
“Everybody can be great,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, “Because anybody
can serve. You don’t have to have a
college degree to serve. You don’t have
to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace.
A soul generated by love.”
I wish all of you
a happy new year. I invite you to join
me in making a few significant commitments for the new year that will enable us
to proclaim: “Lo, the winter is past;
the rains have come and gone. Flowers
appear on the earth, the time of singing has come.”
