if you have ever wanted a great discussion starter, may i recommend an infant. for some reason it seems strangers of all sorts are drawn to them. now, i must admit that our son is a rather handsome lad, but there is something else at work as well. fact of the matter is that people are attracted to things that are new.
think about it: people love that new car smell, a new product flies off store shelves even if it doesn't live up to the hype, and new year's is one of the biggest celebrations of the year. the idea of a clean slate or a new leaf is pretty appealing. we would all love a second chance, and most of us are in need of a four hundred and seventy third.
today is the day that most people take the opportunity to consider the coming year: the goals they want to achieve, the pitfalls they want to avoid, and the habits they want to break. it is not that today is remarkably different from any other on the calendar, but it represents something: 365 (or in this case 366) days that have not been lived, 366 new beginnings. unfortunately, this isn't entirely true.
my father in law has a proverb that goes like this: "life is a series of choices." it is his way of highlighting the fact that the decisions we make today affect the type of people we become tomorrow. each choice carries a consequence, so in the wisdom of indiana jones: choose wisely.
and yet, we have made mistakes. we have made unwise choices that have come with unwanted consequences. like sheep we have gone astray, and we have started to become people we never intended to be.
some are very aware of this trend and they recognize the ways in which this pattern has played out in their lives. a few years ago i was listening to a radio interview with fiona apple, a female musician known at least in part for her caustic break up songs. "you have all these really horrible break ups," noted the interviewer. "do you think you are cursed when it comes to love?" her viciously insightful response came without hesitation: "well, i would like to think so, but then i realize that i am the common denominator in all these relationships."
i believe that most people see babies as a fresh start, a life with endless potential, a chance to correct or redeem their past mistakes, the promise of a story with a better resolution. while to some extent this may be true, they are also born into a world full of people who are reaping what they have sown. new children are surrounded, and sometimes even parented, by undone, flawed, and old adults.
one of my favorite authors/speakers is a guy named donald miller. the first time i heard him speak he confessed, "the struggle of my life is that i become new." it is to this struggle that Christ came to speak, offering the promise of new way of living, a new way of life, a new creation, the kingdom of God in the here and now, something truly new, truly hopeful, truly redemptive.
my dream for the new year is that i can live in response to hope and not in reaction to fear. our world is drowning in its own worry, and i am so prone to going under. i want to trust in the goodness of God, and in the life Christ came to initiate. i want to respond in patience, grace and love, instead of anger, hurt, and apathy. we think isaac is starting to teeth, so this should be a perfect time to practice.
below is a prayer i believe was authored by eleanor roosevelt. may it strengthen you in this new year:
"our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us all seekers after that which we can never fully find, forbid us to be satisfied with what we make of life. draw us from base content and set our eyes on far-off goals. keep us at tasks too hard for us that we may be driven to Thee for strength. deliver us from fretfulness and self-pitying; make us sure of the good we cannot see and of the hidden good in the world. open our eyes to simple beauty all around us and our hearts to the loveliness men hide from us because we do not try to understand them. save us from ourselves and show us a world made new."
my father in law has a proverb that goes like this: "life is a series of choices." it is his way of highlighting the fact that the decisions we make today affect the type of people we become tomorrow. each choice carries a consequence, so in the wisdom of indiana jones: choose wisely.
and yet, we have made mistakes. we have made unwise choices that have come with unwanted consequences. like sheep we have gone astray, and we have started to become people we never intended to be.
some are very aware of this trend and they recognize the ways in which this pattern has played out in their lives. a few years ago i was listening to a radio interview with fiona apple, a female musician known at least in part for her caustic break up songs. "you have all these really horrible break ups," noted the interviewer. "do you think you are cursed when it comes to love?" her viciously insightful response came without hesitation: "well, i would like to think so, but then i realize that i am the common denominator in all these relationships."
i believe that most people see babies as a fresh start, a life with endless potential, a chance to correct or redeem their past mistakes, the promise of a story with a better resolution. while to some extent this may be true, they are also born into a world full of people who are reaping what they have sown. new children are surrounded, and sometimes even parented, by undone, flawed, and old adults.
one of my favorite authors/speakers is a guy named donald miller. the first time i heard him speak he confessed, "the struggle of my life is that i become new." it is to this struggle that Christ came to speak, offering the promise of new way of living, a new way of life, a new creation, the kingdom of God in the here and now, something truly new, truly hopeful, truly redemptive.
my dream for the new year is that i can live in response to hope and not in reaction to fear. our world is drowning in its own worry, and i am so prone to going under. i want to trust in the goodness of God, and in the life Christ came to initiate. i want to respond in patience, grace and love, instead of anger, hurt, and apathy. we think isaac is starting to teeth, so this should be a perfect time to practice.
below is a prayer i believe was authored by eleanor roosevelt. may it strengthen you in this new year:
"our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us all seekers after that which we can never fully find, forbid us to be satisfied with what we make of life. draw us from base content and set our eyes on far-off goals. keep us at tasks too hard for us that we may be driven to Thee for strength. deliver us from fretfulness and self-pitying; make us sure of the good we cannot see and of the hidden good in the world. open our eyes to simple beauty all around us and our hearts to the loveliness men hide from us because we do not try to understand them. save us from ourselves and show us a world made new."
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