Pastor's Weekly Musing
Hey everyone!
Well, it's here. 2020. Part of me still can't believe it.
With each new year comes the inevitable promise to myself to finally do the thing that I've been trying to do for years. Floss more. Cut carbs. Drink half my body weight in water every day. There's an endless list of self-improvements that I will definitely get to, one of these years.
Then there's the deeper to-do list. Read my Bible more. Take my wife out on dates more. Pray more. Be nicer to the kids and dog. Talk to my neighbors. The list goes on and on. And every year it gets longer, and every January I'm reminded that I didn't get it done the previous year.
Making things worse, the holidays seem to exacerbate the issue every year. Thanksgiving comes and I engorge myself to no end, and always promise myself that I'm going to get my act together right afterward, but right around the corner is Christmas cookies and cocoa and candies, and along with them all the late nights and parties and exhaustion.
"I'll start when the New Year comes", I say to myself, but I stayed up past midnight on that day, and I pigged out the whole time, so I really mean January 2. But that's a Thursday, and I have to work that day. "Well, okay, the first Monday after the New Year..."
Even if I avoided the dietary pitfalls of the holiday season, they can still be emotionally draining. Or relationally draining. Or financially draining. Either way, I'm drained. We're drained. Even if our holidays were filled with enjoyment and fun, they can still be heavy. They're simultaneously festive and fearful, delicious and discouraging. And it leads me into a new year wore out and filled with more self-loathing about my progress in life.
Even with all of that, here's some Good News for you: finishing the year -- and starting a new one -- feeling weak is a huge spiritual advantage. Why? Because felt weakness is the way to experiencing the Lord's spiritual power in our lives.
Paul writes: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Finishing the year weak will not be your downfall. You may feel hopeless, helpless, or left behind. But your weakness is the key to your leaning more fully into the God who made you and loves you.
Begin this year in HIS strength, which might mean you have to renounce your own, and be honest about your own frailty and weakness. He knows. He still loves you, endlessly. And He's got every spiritual blessing to carry you through another year, just like He has every year. Rest in Him. He's got your 2020!
Well, it's here. 2020. Part of me still can't believe it.
With each new year comes the inevitable promise to myself to finally do the thing that I've been trying to do for years. Floss more. Cut carbs. Drink half my body weight in water every day. There's an endless list of self-improvements that I will definitely get to, one of these years.
Then there's the deeper to-do list. Read my Bible more. Take my wife out on dates more. Pray more. Be nicer to the kids and dog. Talk to my neighbors. The list goes on and on. And every year it gets longer, and every January I'm reminded that I didn't get it done the previous year.
Making things worse, the holidays seem to exacerbate the issue every year. Thanksgiving comes and I engorge myself to no end, and always promise myself that I'm going to get my act together right afterward, but right around the corner is Christmas cookies and cocoa and candies, and along with them all the late nights and parties and exhaustion.
"I'll start when the New Year comes", I say to myself, but I stayed up past midnight on that day, and I pigged out the whole time, so I really mean January 2. But that's a Thursday, and I have to work that day. "Well, okay, the first Monday after the New Year..."
Even if I avoided the dietary pitfalls of the holiday season, they can still be emotionally draining. Or relationally draining. Or financially draining. Either way, I'm drained. We're drained. Even if our holidays were filled with enjoyment and fun, they can still be heavy. They're simultaneously festive and fearful, delicious and discouraging. And it leads me into a new year wore out and filled with more self-loathing about my progress in life.
Even with all of that, here's some Good News for you: finishing the year -- and starting a new one -- feeling weak is a huge spiritual advantage. Why? Because felt weakness is the way to experiencing the Lord's spiritual power in our lives.
Paul writes: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Finishing the year weak will not be your downfall. You may feel hopeless, helpless, or left behind. But your weakness is the key to your leaning more fully into the God who made you and loves you.
Begin this year in HIS strength, which might mean you have to renounce your own, and be honest about your own frailty and weakness. He knows. He still loves you, endlessly. And He's got every spiritual blessing to carry you through another year, just like He has every year. Rest in Him. He's got your 2020!
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