Friday, January 2, 2009

Hope and Mercy in 2009

I think the greatest thing about New Years is the fact that everyone has hope all over again. While my parents are hardly superstitious by any means, they have always held to the Japanese tradition that one must clean the house on New Years Eve so that it is immaculate. Heaven forbid you start the New Year dirty. And so the new year provides the hope to change. The errors that were made in 2008 won’t come back in 2009.

With the hope that all the goals for 2009 will be fulfilled must come the grace to accept one’s self when all the goals are not fulfilled. Not everyone will be in better shape this year than in 2008 and not everyone’s marriage will stabilize while they were rocky the previous year. What then do we do when we fall into dark times? Despair? Hope against hope? Certainly not!

Let us hope to accomplish every goal we set out to achieve, but do not despair when we fall into the bitterness of sin. Though we hope to be perfect (Phil. 1:14), we must have the faith that the mercy of God will pull us through every dark night and waning sunset the soul experiences. As our hearts are rejuvenated in the new year like a weary traveler coming upon an oasis, let us offer up our first fruits of this new year to the Lord.

May the hope that hath died be restored,
May the passion that hath ceased be renewed,
May the apathy that hath existed be asphyxiated with passion,
May the despair that hath seeped through be killed with hope.

“Grace is what God gives us when we don't deserve and mercy is when God doesn't give us what we do deserve” – Anonymous

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

great post chris! I've been thinking a lot about the new year. I just re-read Manalive and have been thinking about how I am not dead yet.

the new year feels like a re-awakening of sorts. It is a chance for us to love being alive with a restored hope that "all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well." (Eliot)


Happy New year roommate!

Grace Cartwright Aspinwall said...

what a great blog! anne meador referred me over and you are truly a gifted writer!

shareshare said...

Chris, I went to buy a friend a card today, and something I saw reminded me of what you said in this post. This friend has been going through a lot; her stepdad passed away and she's been doing a lot for her family. So I got her this card that had a picture of a bandaged, pathetic cat on the front. It said, (cover)"If your situation has you thinking about four-letter words... (inside) add these to your list: hugs, hope,..." And it reminded me about your post about hope. Follow this link: http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/3139815.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=BEDFE2929D4DA76545963269AC82E8D8A55A1E4F32AD3138