8 days down, 358 to go. I often find myself doing this, getting caught up in the countdown mentality. It's almost as if the events of the present aren't satisfying enough and we choose to live in the future or worse, the past, rather than in the the here and now. I have typically never been a big new year's resolution person because I feel like that's what I'm doing. (If you are a new year's resolution person than please continue to do so, I promise I'm not passing judgement because, ironically, I'm doing something similar with the start of this year) I have found myself looking at the the calendar and thinking, "If I can just get to December 31/January 1 everything will be OK and I can stop/start doing X and/or Y and my life will be all better." We even look to the end of history when God will set everything right and beg him to do it now. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to that day too so I'm not discrediting its importance but to let it divert us from what God has called us to in the present day and age? I don't think that's what he intended. The author of Hebrews writes, "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." [3:12-14, NIV84, emphasis added] Making your mind up to be different shouldn't be put off to a future time, it is a constant, daily decision to be different, to surrender, to follow our Creator otherwise sin sets in and creates bad habits that lead to ineffectiveness and can potentially destroy meaningful relationships. (I've had it happen to me, believe me, it's not fun.) Ironically the threat of falling never goes away but niether does God. He is "an ever-present help in trouble" and "the same yesterday and today and forever" but yet we forget that and act as if he isn't paying attention or just doesn't care when the reality is quite the opposite.
As we move further into the coming year there will be alot of excitement and heartbreak. The sun will rise and set roughly every 10-14 hours. (unless you're at one of the poles) It will be rainy, sunny and cloudy, hot and cold, windy and calm. There will be opportunities for new experiences, new acheivements to celebrate even new sadness and trials to endure. God will speak loudly and he will stay eerily quiet but through it all we worship the same Jesus who desires that people hear his message and come to him with the same urgency as when he first appeared 2000 years ago.
