It’s January.  January 2015.  It means a new year full of new mercies has begun.  It means I am only four months in front of another birthday.

I stepped over rocks and around rocks and carefully watched that my feet stepped where the path was clear and free from danger.  A valley and a few hills to maneuver, a bend and I kept my eyes down.

And then I looked up and right there

where it had been all along

the view

As happens often, God came to mind.  God and this journey He has me on.  Today I thought about how sometimes I look so carefully at the steps I’m taking and worrying about whether I might trip or step on something sharp, that I don’t even see the beauty and the amazingness God has put right next to those rocks.  Well for goodness sake, if that isn’t a crying shame.  To know the beauty is there and waiting to be enjoyed and still troubled about what might happen so I won’t lift my head to take a look, well, what a waste.

I’ve said it before.  Not a single one of us knows what tomorrow holds so it’s certain we haven’t a clue what the year ahead will bring.  No idea what will face us when we wake up tomorrow morning.  Oh sure, we all have hardship, thorns, difficulties that are ongoing.  It’s likely they, those dark spots, will still be right where they were when we went to bed last night and the night before, when we wake up in the morning.  It would be nice if heartache could be erased while we sleep. It would be nice if hard decisions would suddenly become easy.  It would be nice if decisions other people make, that hurt us, would be reversed.   But then, we wouldn’t need those mercies God promises, would we.

You know the mercies,

God With us, so don’t fret about anything.

The Father will send the comforter to remind you of all the things I have taught you, (says Jesus)

And one of my Very Favourites

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.  (Jesus said that too)

Some people get annoyed, upset with God because He doesn’t get rid of all the hard and sad in the World.  Those mercies though, are poured out so we remember it’s Him in the middle of all of the goings on.  Sometimes the mercies are hard to see.  We need to look around carefully and  ponder what He’s done, doing and potentially going to do

FOR us,

IN us

THROUGH us

He didn’t ever once tell us life would be wonderful or perfect or even smooth.   He told us, nevertheless

not to worry about it and to live full of joy because He truly has overcome the bad and He’s coming to get us some day.

It’s the beginning of a new year and I am glad I believe those promises.  I feel sad when I think about people all over the place who don’t believe them.  Some people look so hard for something to find hope in and there sit those mercies, right in front of them, waiting to be embraced.

So we all know that at the beginning of a new year, people make resolutions.  They become resolute, if they weren’t already, about things they think they should

do

accomplish

achieve

acquire

accept

gain, lose, buy, sell, read…

well the list goes on.  You could add to it I’m sure.  It’s possible you made a few of your own

resolutions that is, at the beginning of 2015.

I must admit, I have never as far as I can remember, made a resolution at the beginning of a year.   I guess speaking the words makes it more real.   Maybe we’re more likely to stick to a plan if we say it or write it down or even just tell ourselves it’s really going to happen.

I’ve been giving it some thought this year though.

2015

Wondering about being resolute and determined

I want to be both of those about the things that matter.  Question is, what matters?

I went tonight to a hill, here in the desert.  The sun was going down and I found a green place with a clear view to the west. It was actually a golf course and I kind of felt like a trespasser, out there where in the daylight hours, people of all shapes and sizes are doing what people do out there.   It was quiet and almost dark and it was beautiful and I sat on that grass and watched the sun turn different shades of red.  Well I can tell you, that view was enough to get me thinking about what is important.  There is nothing like sitting out in a place where all around and as far as you can see, the view is God’s doing.  It’s my very favourite thing.

I’m sitting here right now writing.  I guess it’s really journaling.  I’m journaling and sharing it with you, not like most journals that are private.  I’m writing and sharing because well, maybe you will be encouraged by some of what I share. Maybe.

Thinking more about God and what pleases Him, thinking about people and what might be helpful to them, spending minutes and hours and maybe even days looking at the beauty attributed to God,, reading books that make me smile, listening to people who have something worthwhile to say (and asking God for the wisdom to figure out which words are worthwhile)

looking people in the eye and sincerely wondering aloud at how their journey is unfolding,, talking to God more than I do now (which as it turns out is not nearly often enough), listening more carefully to what God is telling me, eating food that nourishes my body and

filling my soul with the bread of Life which is the food that quite frankly, I crave.

These things, are the worthwhile things that I am determined to be resolute about.

Happy New Year to you and may you be resolute about what is most important.  I won’t tell you what that is, but if you listen, God will tell you.