Well, here it is...2011. New year. Same people. New challenges. Same God.
The thing about new years that gets me is how people use this time as a time
to say...ok, now I'm going to change. Why? Why do people need an excuse
such as a new year to start to make a change in their lives? I'm not saying
it's a bad time to do it, I just don't see the difference in doing it on January 1st
as opposed to August 17, or June 3. I say all this to say, don't wait to change.
Don't wait to answer God's call. The only excuse you need is, "because it's what
God wants."
Ok, that's all I'm gonna say about that. The other thing I was thinking about on
this first morning of 2011 came about when I woke up this morning to watch the
first sunrise of the new year. I was so excited to sit with some hot chocolate, camera in hand, to watch a beautiful sunrise grace the fresh 2011 sky. I even woke up at 7 when I didn't go to bed til 3! Well my friends, I must say I was quite disappointed at first when after 30 minutes of waiting all I saw was the gloomy grey sky of a winter morning. Where was the sun?! Didn't God realize that it was a NEW YEAR?! An occasion worthy of a beautiful sunrise in my opinion. But no matter how long I sat there with my hot chocolate, I was not going to get my sunrise. At first this whole thing made me rather upset...I mean I woke up early for this! But then as I started praying for my upcoming year I thought about a quote I heard once and now keep on a mirror in my bedroom. It goes like this, "I believe in the sun even when it's not shining, in love even when I'm alone, and God even when he is silent." The cool thing is that
this was said by a Holocaust victim!! Needless to say, I was humbled. Do I believe in the sun even when it's not shining? Of course! Do I believe in love even when I'm alone? Well yeah! Do I truly believe in God, even when he is silent?....hmmm....this one isn't as easy to answer. Oh sure, I love God when good things are happening in my life..that's easy. But what about when a family member or friend dies? Or when I lose my job? Or when my boyfriend
breaks up with me? What about then? Does God suddenly cease to exist? Of course not, friends. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." So can I even call it "faith" if I believe in God when I can see Him working? Or is faith what we have when everything around us is saying there is no God, yet we choose to believe and trust in Him still? I think that's a little more accurate. This is a lesson
that I've heard and experienced many times, but can never be reminded of enough.
So how does all this relate to the new year? Well, the way I think of it is that even though it's a new year, I'm the same person. I'm going to make mistakes. Even though I will continually pursue perfection, I will not achieve it...not in 2011, not next year, not ever. And even though there are new challenges, I have the same God. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This year is going to bring blessings and tears. There will be days where
I'll be basking in the sun's rays, but there will also be others where I can't see the sun at all. The question is, what will I do with those days?
My new year's resolution is to believe in the sun, EVEN WHEN IT'S NOT SHINING.
