New Year Aspirations

May we pack up all our suitcases

Of crippling contradictions

And store them in our closets

With our misconceived predictions…

That life will be so utterly grand

This year will be so different

If we just do more of the things,

Being positive and deliberate.

Let’s first admit we have little control

Over much of life’s adventures

The dash between our birth and death

Is a guess we can only venture.

Is it seventy years or eighty?

Well, I don’t have a clue!

Is it the span of life or the life I live

In all I say or do?

Let’s count our lives by the moments

That truly give us life

Not by the regrets or expectations

The disappointments or the strife…

But let us count the moments

When God met us face to face

To show his love and glory

In the smallest signs of grace…

Sitting next to someone else in grief

Or celebrating good news

Hearing a sweet child’s laughter

Or an argument defused.

Healing a deep woundedness

Forgiving once again

Expressing love and comfort

Whether the first time or the tenth.

Imagine this kind of rebirth,

A radical resilience

A harvest basket that we gather,

Evidence of His brilliance.

These are the moments of the new year

I truly want to remember

The gathering of joys and sorrows

From January to December.

May He be our daily portion

Our refuge and our rock

His loving shepherding presence

When we stumble as we walk.

It won’t be perfect, let’s not pretend

That it’s totally up to me

To avoid the pain and discomfort

That is everyone’s reality.

The highs and lows are packed together

In every single year

We’re reminded to hold on tight

To the Savior we hold dear.

He came through humble beginnings

To show us the way of descent

It’s not what we do for God that counts

But how He helps us repent…

To a better yes, a new surrender

Of heart and mind and soul

As we encounter each circumstance,

He wants to make us whole.

So here’s to 2024

We open up the door

To new attitudes and possibilities

For what our God has in store!