Happy New Year!

Can you believe it’s 2012? It’s common custom to assess life at the turn of a new year. We look back on where we’ve been and speculate what is to come. We plan, strategize, budget and organize. Of course, to certain degrees that is necessary. We need to have some direction, some goal for which to strive.

Writing is no exception. I have relinquished some responsibilities in order to take on some new assignments. I am hopeful in anticipation of the potential growth those new prospects will bring. To be honest, I’m filled with excitement about the things I’ve penciled onto my calendar.

But…

Soothsayers predict the world will end this year. Are you gearing up for that? According to NASA, “The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012—hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.” (By the way, the Mayan calendar does not end. It merely rolls over to a new long-period cycle, just as our own calendar rolls over from December to January each year.) By scientific measures, it is highly unlikely any catastrophe is due Earth in 2012.

But…

The Bible tells us we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Let me ask you again, are you gearing up for that? Of course, I am not advising you “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!” But I’d like you to consider James 4:13-15: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”

If it is the Lord’s will…

“You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath” (Psalm 39:5). A breath. A mist. A vapor. The very next verse describes man as a phantom in his finite brevity. Make your resolutions. Set those goals. But remember it is “not my will but thine,”  and make this ever your constant plea: Lord, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” (Psalm 90:12).

May 2012 bring you rich blessings as you live according to His will.

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