From the Pastor

January 2007

About this time every year, someone asks me what my New Year’s resolution is. The truth is, I do not make resolutions; I never have. Not that there are not plenty of things that I could and should "work on" in 2007. I could, for example, resolve to be more patient, to spend more time studying the scripture and more time in private prayer and quiet reflection, to find new ways to reach out in service to others, to make more time for rest and rejuvenation … But I still am hesitant to resolve to do these things. That seems so ironclad and a bit intimidating to me. I suppose I am afraid that I will fail, and will be so discouraged that everything suffers and I end up in a state of stagnation or inertia.

Instead of setting myself up in that way, as if these things are rules that I must follow or lofty standards that I must achieve in order to be "successful" in 2007, I believe I will just try to be more open to the Holy Spirit’s presence in the coming months. Perhaps that will lead and nudge me to make more time for study, prayer, and quiet reflection. Perhaps I will be inspired to a particular area of service, one that I might never have imagined I would enter into. Perhaps I will stop making excuses for all the things I know I should do that would be good for me, and see them instead as ways to honor the life that I have been given by God.

And I wonder if that would not begin a new cycle: my new openness and awareness of the Spirit might lead me to engage in these things, and these things in turn might lead me to an even deeper awareness of the Spirit. I might gain a deeper understanding that God is always at work in my life, always seeking to strengthen the relationship we have, no matter what I do or fail to do—because God is far more resolute than I could ever be, and God’s promises mean more than any resolution I could ever make.

How about you? Are you ready to be open to the Spirit in 2007? If you listen and look with some intentionality, you might experience God moving in some mysterious ways in your life in 2007...and you never know where that might lead!

God's blessings to you this New Year and always.
Pastor Brenda