It’s been a long December.
Our trip up north for Thanksgiving provided mounds of delicious food and a side of Covid to go with it. We had a rough go of it: strange symptoms, bodily pain, and some mental battles.
It took Tim and I some time to recover and we debated whether or not to head back up to Pennsylvania for Christmas. The pixies were clamoring to go, but our bodies were still on the mend. However, nostalgia won out as it would be the last year Tim’s family celebrated Christmas in their family home. This year his parents will sell the home his father built and the memories within the walls beckoned us home.
And so we once again made the trip up north with weak bodies but strong wills. The pixies celebrated waking Christmas morning at my parents’ house and then we made the three hour drive to Tim’s parents, our yearly tradition. We celebrated Christmas Day, and woke the next morning with fevers. The pixies had the flu.
Our 2021 holiday recipe: Covid the day after Thanksgiving. The flu the day after Christmas. You can’t make this stuff up.
Our house is weary of being sick. The malaise seems to drag on and yet despite all the coughing, fevers, and aches there’s a feeling in the air of anticipation. Somehow we are still stoked.
The sickness will soon be behind us and the year is wide open before. Tim wakes each morning imploring me, “Time to get stoked!” I look at him wearily, but his enthusiasm wins me over.
The New Year beckons us all with hope, expectation for the days ahead. We get to live out the wonder of times and seasons. Our lives imprint on the fabric of this world.
I started a new Bible reading plan this year using the Chronological Bible. I’ve never read through the Bible chronologically, and I’m looking forward to reading the Bible through the lens of time. Day one did not disappoint as I noticed a verse in Genesis that caught my attention:
“Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.” ~Genesis 1:14
This New Year, 2022, is sacred.
Do you believe this?
Each day is a gift. From the beginning of time, God saw that it was good to mark sacred times, days and years. To distinguish between day and night, winter and spring, 2021 and 2022. The signs show the beginning and end of time.
Will you choose to believe this year is sacred? If so, how will you live differently? What goals will you make? What habits will you establish?
I’ve been pondering these questions myself, and the stoke is rising. We get to live this life.
One of my favourite themes found in a movie is in About Time. The protagonist, Tim, discovers that he is given the ability to travel through time. He uses this gift to change circumstances that he wishes would have otherwise turned out differently. But in the process he learns an invaluable lesson: when he takes his eyes off of the worries and tensions of the day, he uncovers how sweet a single day otherwise is. The sacredness of it.
He stops traveling back in time to exchange it for the glory found in the one day he is currently living:
"And in the end I think I've learned the final lesson from my travels in time: The truth is I now don't travel back at all, not even for the day, I just try to live every day as if I've deliberately come back to this one day, to enjoy it, as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life."
The full, and final day of my extraordinary, ordinary life.
Friends, this is what it's all about: the sacredness of living a year designed for you. You have all you need living this wonderful life right now in the year of 2022. Because it is His gift to you. It is your day. It is your life. It is your year.
What will you do with it?
If you aren’t part of my weekly Bible study, Mend, I would love to have you join me this year. I send out two to three daily devotionals each week.
For the month of January we will be studying how to Mend our Habits. What better time of year to focus on mending habits with the power of God’s Word? Together, we will see how we are created in God’s image for a specific purpose, and how our habits help mend our purpose.
He wants to mend us, crafted into one piece. When I envision mending, I picture the beauty of a loving Father carefully picking up the broken pieces and restoring order amid chaos.
Do you need mending? Does the weight of being torn in so many different directions weigh on your spirit? Are you looking to refocus and solidify habits? If so, this month is for you. And I’m offering a special 20% discount this week only.
I am so excited to join you as we study Scripture together. It is the Word of God that changes lives, and I believe it is only in the stillness, our quiet time with Him, we confront the splintering of our souls and instead, discover the beauty of a mended life in Him
The first email goes out tomorrow morning, so sign up today! I’ll see you there!