Anticipating
the New Year
“The
movement of the Spirit of God in the hearts of men and women often
calls them to act against the spirit of their times or causes them to
anticipate a spirit which is yet in the making. In a moment of
dedication they are given wisdom and courage to dare a deed that
challenges and to kindle a hope that inspires.”
Howard
Thurman (Footprints of a Dream: The Story of the Church for the
Fellowship of All Peoples, p.7, c.1959)
A tumultuous year is
coming to an end, and a new year awaits us. We are, incredibly,
entering the third decade of the twenty-first century. Lord! That
seems impossible! Every year, I am grateful to see another year on
the horizon, hoping always that the new year will be better than the
last one. Every year I say—good riddance to the old year, and may
the new year be everything we pray for. What is finally dawning on me
is that if I want the new year, 2020, to be different, I, myself,
must be different—uh-oh. Say what?
And by different, I mean
that I have to put away all the nasty negatives I feel and think, and
refresh with a positive perspective. It's kind of like putting the
computer through a cleaning cycle that wipes out all your old files
and snuffs out your dated passwords. I always grumble about coming up
with new passwords, too—I'm all out of clever lines and phrases.
But purging is sometimes essential for the life of a computer, as
well as to the longevity of a human being.
We've been steeped in
negativity for the last few years. We fight with one another, hurling
angry words into the air, polluting it with our negative energy.
Nothing good can come of this. It's time to reel it in; become the
people we want to be, and treat others as if they are of equal value
to us. The fact that our leaders do not do this is not sufficient
reason to continue doing it ourselves. We all know how to hold our
tongues; now we just have to practice it. The fact that I disagree
with someone does not give me license to lambaste them over our
differences. We used to know this simple rule of civility, but
somehow it got lost. Our moment of extreme arrogance has come and
gone, for now, we clearly see where egotism gets us—at each others
throats. It breeds anger and violence, and not peace on earth, as we
are singing about and praying for today.
We have a couple of weeks
to prepare our hearts and minds for a new year. We might use this
time to invite Spirit to guide us, to move among us and stir us to
rededicate ourselves to the purpose of peace and good-will which this
season celebrates. In other words, let the Christ-child be born in us
as well as in Bethlehem.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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