Devotions
from The Woods @Wanamaker
Need Prayer From Our Pastors? Click Here
Here we stand, at the beginning of another new year. Happy New Year!
Frequently through the years I have rejoiced in the fact that God repeatedly gives us new beginnings. He doesn’t need them Himself, but we do. Frequently I will say to a person overwhelmed with the challenges of life: “Get a good night’s sleep. Things will look better in the morning.” And they almost always do. Every week has a new beginning; we call it Sunday and set it apart for worship. And months. And even hours. AA teaches its members to break it down into minutes if they have to. But New Year’s Day; that’s the biggie. I love Watch Night services. For the uninitiated, that’s a Christian New Year’s Eve Party. I remember my first Watch Night service ever, the first year I was a believer. What an experience! What a joy to realize that for the first time in my life this year would be all dedicated to Christ. We’re going to have a Watch Night service at Montara this year. We need to. We’re going to celebrate the past, and then let it go, welcoming the new year and the new way with open arms. We will eat some lovely snacks; we’ll play some board games; we’ll maybe watch an inspiring movie. But at 11:30pm all that will stop, and we’ll talk about the important stuff. What was good about 2021? What was not so good? And then, what do you want to see happen in 2022? We’ll talk about goals – not resolutions. The problem with resolutions is that once you break them, just once, they’re gone, never to return, and you have failed. Often, before the end of January! Goals are different; goals you can keep working on; goals you don’t have to accomplish all at once just because it’s a new year. And at the end of our Watch Night service, we’ll pray in the new year, thanking God for 2021, asking His forgiveness for our failings, and seeking His blessing on 2022. Because really, if He doesn’t bless it, I don’t want it anyway… The old has gone; the new has come. Happy New Year! Blessings, Nell
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorNotes from the Staff @The Woods Archives
March 2023
Categories |