Happy New Year!

Happy New Year.

How we like the new.  A new day.  A new start. A new year.  Not to mention new things, albeit none of them stay new for very long.  We like the new because it works like it is supposed to, it is not broken, faded, damaged or worn.  In a broken world we need some new, because after a while the old no longer serves us.  Of all the things we need to be new time and again, our hearts and minds are the most important.  Christmas reminds us that Christ came to save us from our brokenness, to atone for our sin, and give us new life.  Year-end reflection reminds us that although we walk in this new life, we still live in the midst of brokenness, both around us and in us.  We, like the Ephesians, need “to be renewed in the spirit of (y)our minds”.   This is my daily goal for the new year.  Daily, because every day,the spirit of my mind will need to be renewed.  Measurable, because at the end of the year, the people who interact with me most will be able to tell you whether in some small way, I am or am not, more like Christ.  As Ephesians instructs, it will take some putting off, both of longstanding and newly acquired thoughts and habits, which belong to my tendencies or former manner of life and are actually just deceitful desires.  The key to sustainability will be to engage daily without measuring progress by the day.  Daily lessons, daily grace, once in a while a visible win.  Our part is to let God do His work.  It will be harder to “let” than we might think.  Still, even in the harder places, His grace will reach.  This is a moment for setting goals, or living the unspoken ones that drive us.  Mostly it is a moment to rejoice, because we have the promise of Revelation 21.

“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

  Revelation 21:5

“But that is not the way you learned Christ! - Assuming that you have heard about him, and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.    Ephesians 4:20,21,22,23

A Renewed Mind

In the morning let me find

An open heart to a renewed mind

Instead of all of my “to do”

Lord help me first, to sit with You

Make my goal for the day

To simply trust and to obey

The God who solely understands

The working of His mighty plans

Help me bring before the throne

What I cannot do on my own

Help me learn to give you space

Where I have not allowed Your grace

Remind me even one degree

Of more of You and less of me

Will add joy to another’s story

And reflect more of Your glory

Remind me Lord, in every day

You are the God who makes a way

Who sees with an Eternal view

And Who is making all things new

Unsearchable, the working of

Your mighty hands extending love

Day by day, may this year see

The wonder of Your work in me