Does ringing in a New Year also ‘ring in’ new hope??
What is it about a New Year that causes us to make New
Year’s Resolutions? To try something new? To turn over a new leaf? To make a
change? How is it that flipping the calendar causes us to feel renewed hope in
some certain area of life?
And what if we DON’T experience new hope in the new year?
What if life just feels hard – really hard? What if we know that turning the
calendar page does nothing to turn our circumstances?
The reality is that nothing about our circumstances change
when the clock hits midnight on New Year’s Eve or when we turn to a new
calendar month or year, but our mindset or outlook on life for the year ahead
might alter. And yet, the truth is, we have the power to change our mindset or
outlook at the turn of any month or week or day or any given moment. It’s a
choice. We don’t need a new year to make a change. Change is always a choice.
Have you ever heard the phrase, “Life is 10% what happens
to you and 90% how you react”? Sometimes I can be so focused on what
happens to me, on my life circumstances, that I feel ‘stuck’ in my
circumstances and without options of how to respond. But we all have options.
We all have a choice in how we respond to life circumstances.
Sure, there will be aspects of our circumstances outside of our
control. If I lost someone I love – I can’t bring them back. If someone I love
is making choices I don’t like or that cause me pain – I can’t change them. If I made a mistake or hurt someone I love – I
can’t take it back or change the past. I cannot snap my fingers and magically
make my hard circumstances disappear, or as if they never happened. There will
ALWAYS be things in life outside of my control – whether I like that fact or
not! (As a self-admitted ‘control freak’, I admit that I don’t like that fact!)
HOWEVER, I always, always have choices. I may not be able to
bring back someone I love, but I can make healthy choices that will help me
move through the grief process. I may not be able to change others’ choices,
but I can choose how I respond and set boundaries as needed. I may not be able
to change the past, but I can seek forgiveness for those I’ve wronged, and I
can take the next steps necessary to move forward in reconciliation and
rebuilding trust.
I think the new year often provides us a sense of renewed
‘hope’ because it’s a natural marker in our annual cycle where we can stop,
reflect on the year (or years) behind us and consider if there are changes we
want to make moving forward. That might be any area of life from health or
financial choices to pursuing mental or emotional healing or deepening relationships.
The last several years I began to ask the Lord if He would
give me a word or words to focus on for the year. Sometimes it’s been Listen,
or Wait, Grieve, Hope and Trust. Regardless, it’s always been something that
I’m doing FOR the LORD, such as listening, waiting, grieving, hoping, trusting,
etc.
As I saw 2023 nearing on the calendar, quite honestly, I
felt tired and weary from many things in life and really didn’t want to focus
on anything this year! On one hand I could focus on so many things, and then
feel completely overwhelmed by it all. Sometimes it just feels easier to throw
up my hands and focus on nothing. But then…
God’s lovingkindness, His steadfast love, His faithfulness
to me and to His people throughout generations – it just kept popping up, like
those little moles in the Whac-a-Mole game!
And then it hit me – ‘hesed’.
You might be thinking, “What in the world is hesed??!”
The Hebrew word ‘hesed’ has often been my favorite Hebrew word
throughout the Old Testament. Though I am not a Hebrew scholar and admit I do
not fully understand the depth of its original meaning, it is often translated
into our English translations as mercy, kindness, lovingkindness, unfailing
love, steadfast love.
For this year, 2023, I’m asking the Lord to turn my eyes and
mind and heart towards His ‘hesed’ for me, and that I would rest in His
‘hesed’, His unfailing and steadfast love for me. It’s not something I’m
striving for, it’s not a tangible goal that I can put on the calendar like a
goal weight or financial plan. But rather, I want to fix my eyes on what He has
done and continues to do for me, for all of us.
So do I have renewed hope in this new year? Kind of…
I have hope, but not simply because I turned the calendar
page, and not because of my ability to accomplish grand goals or plans this
year. But because I’m fixing my eyes on the Lord’s great, unfathomable love and
faithfulness. Because of His great ‘hesed’ through all time and all
circumstances, I can have great hope. I guess you could say, I have great hope this
year because my hope is in our great GOD, our God of ‘hesed’, our God who is
the Author of ALL things new.
