Are you ready for another new year?

As I spent some time reflecting on the passing year yesterday, I was feeling a bit like it might go out with more of the proverbial whimper rather than a bang. Thinking back to this time last year when so many were hopeful that 2021 would be “better” than 2020, it could be easy to feel as though we are barely crawling over this “finishing line” and really don’t have much energy left to hope for anything. So much of the latter part of this year, for us, has felt like treading water after a shipwreck, barely managing to keep our heads above water. And if we weren’t in that place ourselves, we were trying help others from going under. And yet…

One of the activities I like to do at the end of a year is look back to the beginning – it’s hopes, what I have felt God saying, goals I might have set - to see how these played out through the year. This has been particularly helpful this year as so much of the last month or so has felt “lost”. Even as I acknowledged my sense that I “should” have done more, and the list of what I still haven’t done started to flit through my mind, so much of the good of this year, the positive and productive activities and circumstances, the way God opened doors and shifted so much in our lives (even in ways that didn’t feel so much like Him!) started to flood my thoughts.

No, in the middle of the continuing global upheaval of this year, in the middle of the loss, pain, rejection, fear, anxiety and panic that has roared around like a hurricane, I can come to the end standing upright and say, “It was a good year”. Yes, it is far too easy to look at all the issues and negativity, the darkness, but God is still here, still sovereign and still bringing His plans and purposes to fruition. Anytime I like, I can head to that place of stillness in Him, with Him, in the middle of the storm. I can choose to focus instead on gratitude for what is, or what has been good, rather than living in hopelessness and despair.

Heading my mind toward that place of stillness yesterday morning, the first lines of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” started playing in my mind. Looking up all the words, I can’t help but see it as a wonderful prayer for this time (check out the whole song here). The first and last verses are:

“O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Desire of nations, bind In one the hearts of all mankind; Bid all our sad divisions cease, And be Thyself our King of Peace.”

The last verse particularly resonates with me. Oh, that our divisions would cease! And what a prayer that has been through the ages. How that might happen is for next week’s blog, though…

Returning to the beginning of the year, there were a few entries from my journal that hit me again. I had been reading through Isaiah, particularly chapter 40 and 41. These chapters are filled with the promise that God does and will show up. That He will make a way where there seems no way, that every obstacle will be removed out of His path, and much about people seeing His glory in plain sight; that it is time to proclaim Him loudly and proudly; that He will be known by all, throughout the earth. The beautiful picture of dry, barren wastelands and deserts turning into springs, into places of lush growth is a central part of the promise here.

Into these reflections, the word God gave me for 2021 was “peace”. As I have shared earlier, it was not a word I immediately embraced. Peace, like patience (and probably every other fruit of the Spirit), generally requires a good dose of the opposite to experience its manifestation. However, into my little rejection of this word, Yeshua whispered, “Shalom” to me. Going on a search through the deeper connotations of this word we so loosely translate “peace”, excited me no end!

Wholeness, healing, restoration, restitution, integrity, harmony, prosperity, welfare, “righteous recompense”, unbrokenness, fullness, “the days of mourning are completed”.

In fact, going back to Is 40:1 (TPT), it begins,

“Comfort, comfort my people with gentle, compassionate words. Speak tenderly from the heart to revive those in Jerusalem, and proclaim that their warfare is over. Her debt of sin is paid for, and she will not be treated as guilty. Prophesy to her that she has received from the hand of Yahweh twice as many blessings as all her sins.”

This sounds very much like “shalom” to me!

So, 2021 started with much hope and excitement for me about what God was going to do. I must confess, that not much of it has been in the format I perhaps expected or would have liked. In fact, I am still processing how some things could be part of His will, especially as they have seemed to have dashed some of my hopes to pieces. However, I will keep seeking Him for the next step and the next step, with the hope, and even confidence, that His plans are better, even when I can’t really see His hand in it.

I refuse to allow disappointment and unmet expectations lead me into a place of bitterness or retreat.

For each of us, in fact, the only way we can step into this new year with hope rather than despair, with joy rather than bitterness is through gratitude. Our gratitude may just be for the opportunities to draw closer to God, to depend on Him in greater measure, to learn more of Who He is for us; it may be finding thankfulness in the little things, like provision or simply for a beautiful day.

If we want to be well positioned for all that 2022 will bring, an attitude of gratitude is a giant step in a life-giving direction, leading us toward freedom, joy and shalom and most importantly, strengthening our connection with Father God, Yeshua, His Son and Holy Spirit.

“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”