Happy New Year!
I don’t know about you, but the past few years have simultaneously rushed by way too fast and crawled by at a snail’s pace. These pandemic-dominated years have felt so long and drawn out; yet time has flown by as days have blended together and life rushes on. So it’s with mixed emotions that I stare into the unknown of 2022.
It’s hard to face another year with the pandemic raging. It’s disillusioning to imagine another year of pandemic-related headlines and all the uncertainty that comes with that. Yet face it we must. I’m reminded of Gandalf’s words to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo, full of regret over inheriting the ring with all its accompanying evil, said, “I wish it need not have happened in my time.” Gandalf replied, “So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
And so, as we look to 2022, “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” We cannot choose the moment we live in, but we can choose to live in the moment that is ours. Let’s prayerfully choose to make this year ahead one in which we seek to know God, feed our souls, grow in love, and change our world through the power and presence of Jesus Christ. Let’s keep doing the little things that add up to big impact. Let’s say our prayers, read the Scriptures, join in worship, love one another, serve others, and share the good news of Jesus with those around us. 2022 is a year for persistence: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).
Today, Krista and I are joining you online as we visit Krista’s folks for New Years. We have the privilege of welcoming back to the pulpit our very own Stephen Farish. I know we’ll be blessed as he shares with us from God’s Word on “The Heart-Enthralling ‘Beauty’ of the Lord” from Psalm 27:1–6.
You are loved, more than you know!
