New Year's Eve, excerpt from a spiritual journal

The Lord is ever with me,
He guides me and instructs me;
I look to Him every day,
For I cannot live apart from Him;
And He feeds me, He sustains me, He blesses me;
And I need nothing;
My life is complete in Him.
No more do I turn to the ways of the world,
For they deceive me.
The Lord is my rod;
I look only to Him;
All else is dust.

I would like to share with you something the Lord led me to write in my spiritual journal one New Year's Eve...

December 31, 1994

New Year's Eve.   I never enjoyed this night.  For me, it was a night when people drank too much and lines were crossed.   Humiliation, loud music, loud people.  People you don't want to kiss you, kiss you.   A night of intrusion, pretension, innuendos, discomfort, disappointment.

It is one of the Deceiver's greatest deceits.   Streamers, confetti, bubbly champagne, tuxedos, and party dresses.   Excitement permeates the very air.  The build-up to one moment in time.  Midnight.  Blow the horns; get out the party hats; confetti and streamers fill the air; kiss; hug; Happy New Year.   And most, after the hullabaloo, which lasts all of 10 minutes, wonder:  Is that it?   Many times I have heard this comment:  It's not all it's cracked up to be.

Right on.

For the time before the big moment (midnight), there is Auld Lang Syne.  Memories are toasted.   Seems confusing, not too cheery for most of us.

Afterwards, the Deceiver offers disguised hope.   THE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION.   Promises are made.   Quit smoking;  change;  accomplish the to-date unaccomplished.   Burdens nicely disguised.   And so the Deceiver offers the world 1 day, 1 chance, 1 moment, to make it right.   Burden, pressure, critique, no help.   Once a year.

This is the way of the world.   It takes time, however, to recognize the Deceiver's subtleties.   They seem right, somehow.   Well disguised they are indeed, in the guise of goodness, and hope, and change, and promises.

You, a believer, however, are no longer a part of this.   Remember, the truth has set you free.   Here's the Good News, the Truth, Christ's Truth.   The Lord offers you a chance TODAY, every day.   AND HE WILL CARRY YOUR BURDENS.  And He offers this to us every day.  AN OFFER, A CHANCE, HELP, CHANGE, NEWNESS, EVERY DAY.

Every day you can enter into His rest.   Every day.   He has created a special day for you called TODAY.   And it is every day.

"Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today,
when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
'Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.'
Hebrews 4:7

It is now Today.   Again.
Stars


Article first appeared in:
The Beacon, 1995 Christmas Edition,
News and Views from St. Barnabas' Anglican Church,
Pierrefonds, Quebec.
under "Excerpt from a spiritual journal..."
by Penny Olive

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