2025 Year of Wonder

/1 Comment/in , , /by

This is what God the LORD says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5 NIV

“The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.” This quote by Hans Christian Andersen could have been the reason that inspired him to write over 168 tales. He took children into the world of “The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, and The Princess and the Pea.” Writers of fairy tales must see a world through adventure lenses and we readers of fairy tales bring life to those stories through our imaginations. We move beyond the ordinary to see a marvelously, often unexplainable but always fascinating world.

The author of the Book of Genesis powerfully captured the wonder of our world as he began with five simple but powerful words, “In the beginning God created.” (Gen 1:1) What more could he say that would encapsulate the power and essence of life? Small children on Christmas mornings create a volcano of excitement as they rip open their presents, not with timid, sedated reactions but unbridled yelling and clapping.

I can’t help but imagine that God had a similar reaction when He spoke creation into existence. The heavens erupted with stars and galaxies with his spoken word, as did the sun and moon, oceans, and continents exploded into reality. Then His gentle word spoke mankind into existence. Somehow the simple phrase, “It was good” just doesn’t seem to fully capture the wow factor of God’s creation.

Unfortunately, have we lost the wow factor? We take the unexplainable miracles of life and often look at them with a nonchalant attitude. We can see the magnificent Blue Whales but fail to marvel at the fact that their hearts weigh 400 pounds and are big enough to hear the heartbeat from two miles away.

We probably don’t meditate all that much on the intricacies of our body, unless we get sick. We take for granted the vast network of cells within our bodies. Yet if you were to hold an ordinary household straight pin you could accommodate roughly 10,000 human cells on the pinhead. To think that if you took the total length of our blood vessels you could circle the Earth at least twice if laid end to end. When was the last time you were walking in Walmart that you thought of the 206 bones within your body and 52 of those are in your foot?

Walking out into the night, do you cry out in awe when you see the canopy of stars above you? Nikola Tesla lived life in wonder. The driving force of curiosity led to his 308 patents. Mark Batterson writes of Tesla that “Few people possessed more curiosity when it comes to God’s creation. During thunderstorms, “Tesla would sit on a couch near the window, and every time it would lightning and thunder, he would get on his feet and give God a standing ovation. When was the last time you clapped for the Creator? When was the last time you gave God a standing ovation?”

This is living life in wonder. Helen Keller wrote, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”  She lived her life in blindness and deafness yet could “see” a world of unbelievable wonder and “hear” the silent sounds of mystery everywhere. She lived a daring adventure that left a legacy of accomplishments in education, writing, and disability advocacy. Keller didn’t live in ordinary terms but always through a filter of miracles.

How can we see our world through the lens of wonder? Author Katie Prejean McGrady captures well the marvel of God’s handiwork, “Creation, and all of life itself, is a remarkable gift, and we would do well to ponder the beautiful reality that God created not out of necessity, but out of abundant, unfettered, generous love.”

It would be unimaginable to live life apart from a daring adventure – an adventure lived with God. C.S. Lewis wrote, “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”

How can you read the Psalms and not feel the growing excitement and wonder of God that David captured over and over again? “How majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalms 8, 19, 139)

We can choose to live 2025 in the wonder of the fullness of God’s presence! What’s ahead? It really doesn’t matter when you know God is already there to walk with you. “Embrace the uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.” (Bob Goff)

Let heaven celebrate! Let the earth rejoice!

Let the sea and everything in it roar!

Let the countryside and everything it celebrate!

Then all the trees of the forest too will shout out joyfully. Psalm 96:11-12 CEB

“Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible…To be spiritual is to be amazed.” (Abraham Heschel)

2025, what is ahead? Recreating Helen Keller’s quote, 2025 will either be a daring adventure or nothing at all. I hope most of us would rather be on an adventure because God’s creation is an unlimited treasure of discoveries. There is no doubt we will face a few challenges ahead but God has promised to be there with us.

God is great!

 

Another Year, Another Resolution

/1 Comment/in , , , , /by

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19 NASB

Is it just me or are there more people in the gym this morning? You may have said this to yourself last week since most gyms, health centers, or fitness groups get a large increase in new or old members returning—the main reason: New Year’s resolutions. The leading resolutions include losing weight and getting fit. If you have a gym membership don’t lose heart, only 9% of Americans keep them. So, by February you should be back to sweating alone.

Making resolutions for the new year is nothing new since the practice dates back to ancient times. The Babylonians as far back as 2000 B.C. celebrated with a 12-day festival. A major resolution for them was the return of borrowed farm equipment. The tradition of resolutions was adopted by the ancient Romans when they made promises of good behavior for the coming year. Knights of the Middle Ages would renew their vows to chivalry by placing their hands on a peacock.

Resolutions to change something within oneself have been most prevalent. A Boston newspaper carried a story in 1813 highlighting why resolutions were made. “And yet, I believe there are multitudes of people, accustomed to receive injunctions of new year resolutions, who will sin all the month of December, with a serious determination of beginning the new year with new resolutions and new behavior, and with the full belief that they shall thus expiate and wipe away all their former faults.” (Catherine Boeckmann, The Old Farmer’s Almanac)

Resolutions have shifted over time with the culture. The top two resolutions according to a Gallup Poll in 1947 were, “Improve my disposition, be more understanding, control my temper and Improve my character, live a better life.” The top two resolutions today are “lose weight and get organized.”

Resolutions to lose weight, get fit, be better organized, spend less, save more, or spend more time with family are all good things. So why do so many of us fail to keep our resolutions? Who doesn’t want to be skinnier, more muscular, more organized, and simply better?

We often fail because of the “why” we are making the resolution. Similarly, we fail because it is hard to stay motivated with a resolution that starts with a negative focus,  resolutions that have no accountability or we simply fail to keep them because they are really not important to us.

Maybe the medieval knights were on the right road when they renewed their vow to chivalry. Their resolutions were focused on the greater good of others, not themselves. “Over the years, however, resolutions seem to have migrated from denying physical indulgences to general self-improvement, like losing weight. While it may seem superficial, medical sociologist Natalie Boero of San Jose State University suggests that today’s resolutions are also a reflection of status, financial wealth, responsibility, and self-discipline—which isn’t that different from how the New Year’s resolution tradition began.” (Boeckmann)

You could get some good advice from Paul in his letter to the Ephesians about writing your resolutions. “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24 NASB)

“So often we try to develop Christian character and conduct without taking the time to develop God-centered devotion. We try to please God without taking the time to walk with Him and develop a relationship with Him. This is impossible to do.” (Jerry Bridges)

Resolutions that begin with the focus on us are harder to maintain over the course of time. Resolutions that begin with a focus on something or someone else stand a greater amount of success. This is the reason a daily resolve to walk with God will last not only for the year but throughout eternity.

I do not even pretend to resolve to keep my office organized but occasionally in a fit of organizing, I do come across treasures. This week in cleaning out a file I found a bit of spiritual history, a most fitting piece in this resolution-making season. The why I kept it is beyond me but I found Jeannie Elliff’s 2007 goals or if you will, resolutions.  Whatever the reason, it was a good reminder to me to always set my goals/resolutions Godward. Though Jeannie walked through Heaven’s doors several years ago, she left behind a legacy of faith for others to follow.

Jeannie was a missionary, pastor wife but most importantly, a child of God. Henry Blackaby wrote, “One of the best ways to prevent your heart from growing cold is to regularly talk with God.” You may not have known Jeannie but her quiet, dignified life was marked with a fire for God that she kept burning throughout her life. She titled her goals, “Joy in the Journey,” which was quite appropriate for someone who took time to walk with God daily, a life singularly purposed on pleasing God.

  1. I will purpose to have conduct worthy of the gospel. Phil 1:27-29
  2. I will display a selfless humility. Phil 2:3-8
  3. I will keep striving to know Christ. Phil 3:7-11

Whatever resolutions you make this year, let each one of them reflect the great joy and hope that you have in Jesus. Though I am not a prolific resolution maker, there is one that I desire to be central to my life story. I resolve to make this one life that I have been given to be lived in the fullness of God’s purposes for me, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:20-21)

I pray you experience the joy and blessing of walking closely with God this year.

God is great!