Many of us are entering 2021 celebrating that 2020 is over. Much of the anticipation for 2021 is based on our disapproval, frustration and distaste for what happened in 2020. Many people find themselves not looking forward to anything specific in 2021, but instead believing, hoping that 2021 will be better than 2020. Our culture has been in a rut over the last season of struggling to look forward, but instead focusing on the negative of the past. The truth is that this year, more than ever, we are all craving a new beginning, a fresh start, a redo. I believe many of us have different ideas on what that means. Some people are COVID weary and just want to get back to the way life was before March 2020. Some people want to be done with restrictions and do whatever they want. Some people want to get back to work and school and social events so they can have fun again. Some people just want everything about 2020 to go away because the idea that if everything that is related to 2020 is gone then it will be better. The reality is some people believe that if we remove the bad related to 2020, then everything will be good.
I crave a new beginning for our world, our country, our state, the Church, our culture. During the last year, I have experienced a significant rise in negativity, pride, criticism, judgmentalism, anger, bitterness, and divisiveness. I have seen people become opinionated and argumentative. I have watched people become consumed by regulations on what they can or can’t do. I have watched others become infuriated that other people aren’t doing what they think they should be doing. I have heard more than ever the labeling of us and them. I crave a new beginning in 2021. I am committed to a new beginning of my life and my influence in how I interact with people. I want to help move people from focusing on the negative and the opposition to reminding them that they were made to help, encourage, and make better. I am focused on a new beginning in my own heart towards people like me and people who think differently than me.
As I step into 2021, I am spending time reflecting and practicing the simple principle of Psalm 46:10; “Be Still and Know that I am God .” As we as a country, especially as the Church, I believe that we need to be still in our thoughts and emotions, and recognize who God is and what power He has. When we take time to walk into 2021 wanting a new beginning with the foundation being the Truth that God is loving, in control, and most importantly desiring a personal relationship with us, I believe we can reset our thoughts, emotions, and actions so that our lives can reflect the Truth that to make an impact in 2021 we can not rely on the absence of bad things to succeed, but instead we need to be about living out being a positive influence in our world.
Here is to a new beginning, not in what I want to change, but in what God wants to change in and through me.