journey onWord with us

What now? Christmas is completed with all of the gift giving, family time and eating too much (I shouldn’t have weighed myself this morning). From Thanksgiving until Christmas, life becomes a blur. As the festive season is coming to a close, it’s time to get back to our routines and prepare for 2011. This week will be filled with news and sports headlines that say, the year in review. There is obvious wisdom in reviewing our personal lives during the last year. For all of us the journey was filled with a series of highs and lows, victories and defeats, and “three steps forward and two steps back” (or sometimes the other way around). With an honest look at your year in review, what would you want to change for the New Year?

Without a doubt, most people in 2011 would like to slow down, change the pace of life, reduce the stress, live healthier, have more family time, etc…  But most people also view those changes as wishful thinking. Since I know that the design of God for Christ-followers is joy, I challenge you to let Him direct your 2011 journey. You should be assured that He can provide internal joy and rest. As you jump headlong into a new year, please take the counsel of an anonymous friar from Nebraska who wrote these words late in life.

If I had my life to live over again, I would try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, and I would be sillier than I have been on this trip. I know of very few things I would take seriously. I would take more trips. I would be crazier. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I would do more walking and looking. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would have more actual troubles, and fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I’m one of those people who live life prophylactically and sensibly hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had it to do over again I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead each day.

I’ve been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot-water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, aspirin, and a parachute. If I had it to do over again I would go places, do things, and travel lighter than I have. If I had my life to live over I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would play hooky more. I would make such good grades, except by accident. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds. I’d pick more daisies.

(taken from When I Relax I Feel Guilty, Tim Hansel)

I believe you get the point! But why write about it now? Rather than look back at life and regret, we have the gift of a new year to look forward to with anticipation. Without a doubt, you will face similar stresses that confronted you in 2010. However, with a firm commitment to change, and being yielded to God’s daily purpose, you will travel lighter and pick more daisies.

And remember to start January 1^st reading through the New Testament with us!