So Christmas passes and we turn to face the year to come. What will the 2007 bring to our physical, emotional and spiritual lives?
The details are not ours to know but we can be confident that the seasons although slightly confused, will come and go.
Long nights of Winter will pass, and Spring will emerge fresh and alive. Summer days will again warm our faces and our evenings will be graced with the familiar scent of cool Chardonnay!
Things we’ve long been sure of, may change. Feelings, faith, friendships and family will undergo their own transitions and our world whether political, economical or environmental will not stand still.
Standing at the centre though is a God whose ways may vary, whose depth cannot be fathomed, but whose grace and love are outrageous and constant.
I’m reminded of a quotation whose origin I can’t remember which says,
“God is bigger than the future, because He is already in the future, waiting for the future to catch up"
God is bigger than the boxes we build around Him, so surely we should not spend too much time maintaining them?
When we take time to ponder who and what He is, we are eventually led to a place of awe and wonder, a place where it seems the only appropriate response is worship.
In this place, we become aware of His extravagant love, we become aware that despite His power, His methodology is thankfully forgiveness, grace and love.
We are reminded that it is this road we are called to follow Him on.
This road presents immense challenges and often does not sit well with our human leaning towards the black and white of right and wrong.
Yet, this is the call on our lives and as we enter this New Year, the only measure we truly have is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
This is the true evidence of a life turned towards God.
What we speak may be forgotten, what we build may not last, but the fruit of the Spirit in our lives will leave its own flavour in the world we inhabit.
Resist the temptation to box the fruit of the Spirit, there are many ways to be kind, patient, gentle and good.
To live this way is not easy. To choose this way is to swim against the tide and can leave us tired at times, but it is the way of Christ and it is the way of an obedient heart.
In each circumstance we find ourselves, maybe we can ask of ourselves whether our choices and voices carry evidence of the fruit of the Spirit?
This is no fool-proof method, but it may provide useful in our journey back to God?
The details are not ours to know but we can be confident that the seasons although slightly confused, will come and go.
Long nights of Winter will pass, and Spring will emerge fresh and alive. Summer days will again warm our faces and our evenings will be graced with the familiar scent of cool Chardonnay!
Things we’ve long been sure of, may change. Feelings, faith, friendships and family will undergo their own transitions and our world whether political, economical or environmental will not stand still.
Standing at the centre though is a God whose ways may vary, whose depth cannot be fathomed, but whose grace and love are outrageous and constant.
I’m reminded of a quotation whose origin I can’t remember which says,
“God is bigger than the future, because He is already in the future, waiting for the future to catch up"
God is bigger than the boxes we build around Him, so surely we should not spend too much time maintaining them?
When we take time to ponder who and what He is, we are eventually led to a place of awe and wonder, a place where it seems the only appropriate response is worship.
In this place, we become aware of His extravagant love, we become aware that despite His power, His methodology is thankfully forgiveness, grace and love.
We are reminded that it is this road we are called to follow Him on.
This road presents immense challenges and often does not sit well with our human leaning towards the black and white of right and wrong.
Yet, this is the call on our lives and as we enter this New Year, the only measure we truly have is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
This is the true evidence of a life turned towards God.
What we speak may be forgotten, what we build may not last, but the fruit of the Spirit in our lives will leave its own flavour in the world we inhabit.
Resist the temptation to box the fruit of the Spirit, there are many ways to be kind, patient, gentle and good.
To live this way is not easy. To choose this way is to swim against the tide and can leave us tired at times, but it is the way of Christ and it is the way of an obedient heart.
In each circumstance we find ourselves, maybe we can ask of ourselves whether our choices and voices carry evidence of the fruit of the Spirit?
This is no fool-proof method, but it may provide useful in our journey back to God?
