Inevitably, I am writing this thought for 2022 before Christmas when it is difficult to second guess what the next fortnight will hold. When I was a child, I remember being warned not to wish for the end of things I did not like for that was to wish away life. I take the point.
Generally, on looking back, there are good things to pick out of all the years just as there are things we may prefer to forget. It is healthy to look forward and it is necessary to look back; I have made the point in previous thoughts that the past informs the future and the lessons of the past help avoid the pitfalls of the future.
It is good to turn a new leaf, (a clean document for those who think electronically), it is healthy to open a new chapter although that is not to tear up (delete) the previous chapters, but to close them for now but leaving them for future reference.
For people who are inclined to avoid problems and challenges, just to pass into 2022 will not miraculously resolve all the unfinished business of 2021. For those who get excited by new loves, old friends are important too.
In his hymn ‘Lord for the years’ Timothy Dudley-Smith captures the balance between thanksgiving and pardon for the past with ultimate future hope. He sets the perspective beyond the world’s edge and puts the focal point on Christ. The same Christ whose hand can be seen lifting, guiding and steadying us in the tricky times behind us.
Crucially, we can only start afresh will we are prepared to be remade; a deliberate step for us to take, not something that falls into place when the date changes.
However you view the coming year, may God be with you and bless you in it.
Lord, for ourselves; in living power remake us –
Self on the cross and Christ upon the throne;
Past put behind us, for the future take us,
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.
Timothy Dudley-Smith (1926 – )
A prayer
Lord of the years, we give you our thanks for all that is past. Help us, as we look ahead, to be grateful for what has been, realistic about what may be and in all things to trust you for all that’s to come, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.