Today is my birthday and I am near the end of another year. So much has taken place this year and it is impossible to recall all the good and the bad. If you think about the happenings in the news, my work and job change, ministry and church business; all that took place seemed to be so much change in a short period of time.
This time last year I was so disappointed that my holidays were not spent enjoying the season or my family. I was captured and caught up in work. The place that felt so heavy and burdensome seemed a world away this year. I feel like I am back to the old days of enjoying the season and spreading holiday cheer. Most importantly, I reflected on what God gave us as a gift -- his son Jesus.
As I look back at this point, I have to thank God for moving in my life. I prayed to be "home for the holidays" and not working. Praise God for the answer of Yes! and Amen! While my colleagues and peers are still struggling under the same regime, I give thanks to a God who knows when the end is the end and a new beginning means a new assignment. I also thank God for confirmations along the way. He leads me by a lamp unto my feet.
As the beginning of the new year draws closer, I am praying and thinking about how God can use me and who He will send to cross my path. The journey is an assignment and the assignment is divine. Obedience is the key to joy and peace.
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
--- Book of Common Prayer 1979
This time last year I was so disappointed that my holidays were not spent enjoying the season or my family. I was captured and caught up in work. The place that felt so heavy and burdensome seemed a world away this year. I feel like I am back to the old days of enjoying the season and spreading holiday cheer. Most importantly, I reflected on what God gave us as a gift -- his son Jesus.
As I look back at this point, I have to thank God for moving in my life. I prayed to be "home for the holidays" and not working. Praise God for the answer of Yes! and Amen! While my colleagues and peers are still struggling under the same regime, I give thanks to a God who knows when the end is the end and a new beginning means a new assignment. I also thank God for confirmations along the way. He leads me by a lamp unto my feet.
As the beginning of the new year draws closer, I am praying and thinking about how God can use me and who He will send to cross my path. The journey is an assignment and the assignment is divine. Obedience is the key to joy and peace.
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
--- Book of Common Prayer 1979
