The New Year And The Old Year

There is a tendency to think that new is better: new technology, new phones, new fashions, new house, new job.

 

'New' suggests hope and potential.  'New' suggests improvements.

 

In the same way, there is a tendency to view the new year as being guaranteed to be better than the old one, simply because it is 'new'.  We can look towards the new year as a sign of hope.  We can find ourselves full of excitement and anticipation for what's to come.

 

But in emphasising the goodness of the 'new', sometimes we can dismiss all of the 'old' as being bad or inferior.  It is easy to throw it all out in one go, without sifting through to find the things of value.

 

Instead, we need to learn to accept the good and the bad in our lives, in others and in ourselves together.

 

David prayed,

 

         "Investigate my life, O God,
         find out everything about me;
         Cross-examine and test me,
         get a clear picture of what I’m about;
         See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
         then guide me on the road to eternal life."

 

         [Psalm 139:23-24 MSG]

 

 

As the old year comes to a close, and we inevitably spend time reflecting on the year past and the year to come, let's acknowledge both the good and the bad and ask God to guide us on the road to eternal life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instant Upgrade

I have spent part of this morning updating all of the apps on my phone.

 

I have had notifications for weeks that there were new versions available and I have ignored them.  But something this morning moved me to action.

 

I'm not sure that they were all necessary, but I am now fully up-to-date (for the time being).

 

About a year ago, I attempted to update the software on my phone.  However, far from being the quick and simple task that I had imagined (and which I have enjoyed this morning), after four hours, not only had my phone not updated, it had crashed and frozen.

 

I had lost all of the data on my phone.

 

Apparently my laptop only had USB ports and not USB2 ports (who knew they existed?) and so the information couldn't be transferred because the USB port wasn't powerful enough (I'm sure it's more technical than that, but that was what I gleaned after many hours on the phone to the help desk).

 

Eventually - after locating a computer with the sacred USB2 ports - I was able to save most of my data and upgrade it.

 

However, since then, although I have upgraded the apps on my phone, I have avoided upgrading the software.  I don't want to risk losing everything again.

 

I think sometimes with spiritual growth and self-awareness, we have a similar approach: we hope that there will be some sort of 'Instant Download' or 'Instant Upgrade' that we can install in our hearts with very little effort or fuss.

 

The fear in engaging properly is that, as with my phone, the 'upgrading' process might wipe all of our previous data.  It might not be a simple task, we might have to re-enter some things and accept that other things are lost.

 

It might change us.

 

When David prayed and asked God to search and test his heart, he knew that it would be uncomfortable and would change him.

 

        "Search me, O God, and know my heart;
        test me and know my anxious thoughts.
        Point out anything in me that offends you,
        and lead me along the path of everlasting life."

 

        [Psalm 139:23-24 NLT]
 

Point out anything in me that offends you.

 

I'm not sure I like that prayer.

 

It is much more comfortable and much easier and far less time-consuming to simply not bother.  So what if we don't have the latest upgrade?  Are we really missing out? 

 

Lead me along the path of everlasting life.

 

If I want to walk in the path of life, I need to choose to engage with the process of 'upgrading', no matter how time-consuming or costly or inconvenient it is.  No matter how uncomfortable it makes me, or how much effort it takes.

 

If I want the full, whole life that Jesus came to give me, I need to wrestle with the issues that are holding me back.  No matter what it takes.


 

 

 

Presents and Presence

As Christmas creeps on to the horizon (and, more importantly, my birthday), thoughts turn to presents.

 

You have perhaps seen the play on words in wedding or birthday invitations: It's your presence we want, not your presents.*  Or No presents thanks, it's your presence that counts!

 

There is something powerful and significant about our presence - about being present in a situation.  Not just being there in person, whilst our hearts or minds are distracted.  But being really present.

 

When we are really present, we can connect with people properly.  We are completely focused on them.  We can listen to what they're saying and what they're not saying, but longing for us to hear. 

 

When we are really present, we share something of ourselves with others.

 

It's the same with the presence of God, too.

 

When we enter His presence, we learn something of who He is. 

 

I have had the words of two songs about being in God's presence on my heart for the last few days.

 

The first is 'I Love Your Presence':

 

         "In the glory of Your presence
         I find rest for my soul
         In the depths of Your love
         I find peace
         Makes me whole

         I love, I love, I love Your presence
         I love, I love, I love Your presence
         I love, I love, I love You Jesus
         I love, I love, I love Your presence."

 

And the second is from 'Set a Fire' by United Pursuit Band:

       "No place I would rather be,

       No place I would rather be,

       No place I would rather be,

       Than here in your love,

       Here in your love."

 

This desire to be in God's presence is something that David understood.

 

        "The one thing I ask of the Lord —
        the thing I seek most—
        is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
        delighting in the Lord's perfections
        and meditating in his Temple."

 

       [Psalm 27:4 NLT]

 

Is this really the one thing I want?  The one thing I desire?  Is it the thing I seek the most?  Is there really no place I would rather be?

 

I'm not sure.  Probably not.  But I want to want it to be.  For it is in God's presence that we find rest for our souls and peace that makes us whole.

 

It is in God's presence that we find ourselves. 

 

 

 

 

*FYI This doesn't swing with me, I'm much more of a presents girl.

 

 

Laundry

I'm one of those odd people (perhaps the only odd person?) who rather enjoys ironing.

I like how mindless and repetitive it is, and the fact that you can watch TV whilst you're doing it, or listen to music.  I love the smell of clean laundry wafting around the house.  And, most of all, I love the satisfying feeling as the creases disappear as you steam over them with the iron.

I don't, however, enjoy ironing anything made of linen.  It's not the ironing itself that I dislike, so much as the futility of it.  It seems an utterly pointless exercise, as the moment you start wearing linen, it it is creased again and needs ironing all over again.

I think life is a bit like ironing - or laundry - too: things get dirty and stained and creased and wrinkled and need cleaning up and smoothing out.  And in the same way that we wash and iron our clothes regularly, we need to 'wash' and smooth out our lives on a regular basis too.

We need to make them new again.

But we can't do this by ourselves.

David asked God to forgive him, wash him clean and make him new after he had slept with Bathsheba (someone else's wife):

"Generous in love - God, give grace!  Huge in mercy - wipe out my bad record.  Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry [...] Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life."

[Psalm 51:1-2, 7 MSG]

Although God is more than capable of answering this prayer, I think it's easy for us to forget that this is an ongoing process and that this is a prayer we will find ourselves uttering again and again.  Our lives get 'mucky' and we need forgiveness.  We need cleaning up over and over and over again. 

And so we ask God to 'wash' us and clean us up, to 'iron' us and smooth things out.  And we get mucky again.  And God washes us again.  And we get mucky again.  And God washes us again.  And we get mucky again.  And God washes us again.  And so it goes on. 

And God is always faithful and always ready to forgive us and pick us up and dust us off and send us out again, dressed in new, clean clothes.

"Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him."

[Colossians 3:10 NLT emphasis mine]