[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 14/Jan/2018]
Some 40+ years ago I had a Saturday job in a vehicle dismantler’s yard – 3 acres stacked with derelict vehicles which had reached their last rusting place. Many of those vehicles would be considered classics in their own right now but you cannot keep them all and most served as an economic resource for keeping others of their ilk on the road. Every one of those vehicles had been somebody’s pride and joy at some time, but now they just lay abandoned and forgotten.
Abandoned and forgotten – does that describe your New Year’s resolutions? Two weeks into January, have they gone the way of most of their predecessors? What happened to the idea of tackling a habit of procrastination? (maybe later) Or getting up 15 minutes earlier in order to have a quiet time? (I’ll sleep on that one.) Beginning a new year is like starting a new exercise book at school – the first page is fine copper-plate script but a few pages later it looks like a doctor has used a remote-control spider with dirty feet.
Do you feel abandoned and forgotten in the post New Year anticlimax? Perhaps a person whom you thought of as special no longer reflects that sentiment about you; or maybe a less-competent colleague received the recognition that you deserved. Do you spend your time sitting at home gazing at the world outside – the kettle is at the ready but nobody calls?
Despite its commercialism and distractions, this season does offer some hope for those who look beyond the glitter. That special birthday that millions celebrate but few recognise reminds us of the arrival on earth of Immanuel, God with us. It is no longer your resolutions that count but His. Let us heed David’s advice to Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you” (1Chr 28).
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys