2020... Now What? - Pt 1

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31 ESV).

I’m always a little amazed by the renewal that naturally generates at this time of the year. People seem to be more reflective and committed to change than at any other time of the year. We seem to conjure up new dreams and hopes much more easily than at other times of the year. We examine our lives and develop our plans for the changes we desire in ourselves, our marriages, our families, or our jobs. Some of us may have been thinking about this since late last January when our shiny new resolutions had already grown stale and started to fade. We wonder how we could have let the entire year pass without making any of those dreams come true. Far too many resolutions fail because we fail to pray. We set out with courage, ambition, and even some exhilaration. We might pray over our resolutions on that first day of January, like praying in the driveway before a long car ride. But before we’ve even made it out onto the highway of another year, we’ve already left prayer behind, and with it, the power needed to persevere in any new habit or pattern. Without prayer for God’s help, our most meaningful resolutions will either fade and fail altogether, or even worse, seem to succeed, but fail to say anything significant about God. Before you make any new resolutions, resolve to pray. If you don’t resolve to do anything else this year, resolve to pursue change and growth through prayer, and not through your own resolve. I am not suggesting that you carve out hours of time to seclude yourself, praying through endless petitions and supplications, though if that’s something you do regularly, great. My suggestion is for you to practice becoming more aware of God’s presence in every experience of life. It is the breaking of dawn or the setting of the sun with the end of day; it is the serendipity of a chance meeting with an old friend; it is the sights and sounds of our world whether it is in the quiet rest of winter or the full bloom of spring. Pay attention to God in your way through life. You’ll be surprised how that will turn naturally to “unceasing prayer” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). This is the path to learn more about God and yourself than ever before. This is how you will find the will to persevere. This is how to soar with the eagles!