The New Year

 Good morning, and welcome to the last Thursday Thought of 2024.

 This year has been for many of us a sort of a mixed bag, if you will.  I’m not certain I’ve experienced a year quite like this one was, and you may well be feeling the same way.  And those I visit with about the year consistently tell me that the year has been an unusual one for them, to say the least.

In the political realm, for diehard Democrats, the year is one of disappointment yet again and a wondering about where things went south.  For diehard Republicans, the year proved to be one of pleasant surprises.  For the majority of us who are in the middle, the year was one that was interesting to say the least, and only solidified our determination to stay above the morass of political fussing and fighting.

In other societal news, mass shootings continue virtually unabated.  Homelessness has been brought front-and-center to the collective societal conscience.  Terror, wars, and all kinds of mayhem continue in the world.  We continue as a nation, both government and families, to spend more than we receive.

And yet even with all of the negative, the good, the right, and the lovely continue to shine through the darkness in the lives of countless millions who expend their time and treasure to make their corners of the world better for their having been there.  One can rather easily cut through the muck and find their stories…stories of generosity, grace, and love for one’s neighbor.  Stories that make the muck and mire so much the more despised…and the desire for gentleness, goodness, and generosity in this world so much more intense.

Many of us have experienced the loss of a friend or loved one this year.  Some of us have gone through…or continue to go through…painful family issues.  Some have fallen on hard times and difficult circumstances.  Others of us who have largely escaped such things still cry out on behalf of our friends and loved ones who have succumbed to tragedy and loss.  We hear and participate in a collective sighing and groaning for relief, whether we have been personally affected by grief and loss or not.

On the other side of things, some of us have welcomed new life into the world.  Some of us have spoken vows of fidelity to another.  Some of us have made a commitment to be a Christ follower.  Some have gotten new jobs or have graduated from school.  Maybe we were able to take that once-in-a-lifetime vacation this year, or finally see and reconnect with a long-lost relative or friend.  We may have been able to remodel the kitchen or buy new transportation.

One thing, regardless of our experiences this year…one thing is certain…things never stay the same.  Change is constant and inevitable.  Oh, it may seem like things are now just as they were a year ago, but that isn’t true, and we all know it.

Archie Bunker of All In The Family…a television sitcom of some years ago, once said, “I like change better when everything stays the same.”  In a way, we all have experienced the desire that time stand still.  However, the endless carefree summers of childhoods of long ago have given way to adulthood and the continued responsibilities and problems that come with that.  Older age brings on the issues of health and wellness, relevance and for some of older age, loneliness and the emotions which accompany that reality.

I hope I’ve not been too dismal in this post.  The reality is, however, that we don’t always experience rainbows and unicorns in our lives.  They do come our way from time to time, but it’s a mixed bag for virtually all of us this year as it is every year.  For those of us who are Christians and are Christ-followers, this mixed bag of life and living is not all there is, and is not the end of things.  For we believe there is a better place that is being prepared for us by Jesus Christ himself.  A place where there is no dismal news.  A place where loneliness is not.  A place where there will be no more loss…no more pain…no more war.  We look forward to that day and say along with the one who wrote the Revelation, “Surely I come quickly.  Amen.  Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”  That…that is our hope and our future.

So, as we go into the year 2025 (I can’t believe I’m even saying that year, let alone entering into it), we understand that it too will be a mixed bag…a mixed bag of blessing and heartache.  And we look to the unchanging God of the universe as our anchor in the uncertainty of this life.  May God bless you as you look to Him in this new year.