It's Time to Put it Away!

 

It's been a tough old year! With war in Europe and threats of nuclear conflict hot on the heels of a global pandemic it could hardly have been anything else! But, for the Queen to die, and the British government to crash the currency and the economy on the way through three Prime Ministers - yes it has been tough. Now, on the brink of the New Year, it's time to put it away.

I love New Year. Christmas is good but New Year is better! (Don't tell anyone in my church I said that!) Yes, I know that nothing beats the coming of Christ into the world to save and heal all who follow him, but there's a whole lot of good stuff about making a new start in the Bible too.

In fact, God is described in the last book of the scriptures as 'the One who makes everything new' (Rev 21:5). St Paul also once wrote that if any person becomes a Christian 'the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!' (2 Cor. 5:17). So, God is in favour of us making a new start. Like a child at school opening a brand new excercise book, we get to start over in 2023. But there are problems -

Fear is a big one! We have taken such a pounding in the last couple of years that we can hardly be blamed for being scared, but fear is not just the opposite of faith, its the enemy of it too. Jesus taught a lot about fear because he understood its power to hold people back, even to destroy them. There are 366 'fear nots' in the Bible, one for every day plus one for a leap year! God doesn't want fear to make the decisions around here. Let faith in Christ be your choice and you will find that fear is lessened, and with time and God's help, can be overcome completely.

Exhaustion is another one. I saw this in a Facebook post the other day: 'A gentle reminder about why you are utterly exhausted… None of us began this year on a full tank.  Given the vicious onslaught of the previous two years  (let’s just call it what it was) most of us dragged ourselves across the finish line of 2021… frazzled, spent, running on aged adrenaline fumes… 

We crawled into 2022 still carrying shock, trauma, grief, heaviness, disbelief… The memories of a surreal existence… 

And then it began… The fastest hurricane year we could ever have imagined. Whether we have consciously processed it or not, this has been a year of more pressure, more stress, and a race to “catch up” in all departments… Every. Single. One. Work, school, sports, relationships, life… ' So, after all we have been through, that's why you might feel exhausted. Here are some wonderful words from Jesus about exhaustion.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:29 The Message)

 Loneliness is a big contender! A psychiatrist friend of mine warned me during the pandemic lockdowns that there would be a pandemic of loneliness after this! We must do something about this, but God has done so in setting the solitary into families - church families. I know you might not want to read this, but you don't have to be lonely if there's a really good lively church community nearby. Get there and check them out if you can, or at least take a peek at their Livestream (for my own church search YouTube for 'Vazon Church'). But let's face it, loneliness really hurts and can be fatal. There are lonely people around us all. Let's ask God for eyes to see them and a heart to care enough to reach out to them in 2023. 

So, I'm quite relieved to put 2022 into its sack and move on, aren't you? When it comes - have a Happy New Year!