New Year

Facing Future Fears

January 12, 2024 by Nancy 15 Comments

Just over twenty-four years ago we were all in a panic over what might happen when the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1999, and we plummeted into a new millennium. Yes, it was two dozen years ago that we were told to store up gallons of water and batteries before January 2000, and everyone everywhere was talking about all the bad things that might happen in Y2K. Guess what? The clock struck 12:01 AM and nothing significant changed.

It’s true there was some reason for concern that what was dubbed the “Y2K bug” would keep our computers from moving from 1999 to 2000 and we might find we all reverted to 1900 instead. Banking, telecommunications, and energy systems could have been affected. So computer experts updated software and replaced or modified existing systems to avert the crisis and it worked. A lot was learned about proactively preparing for technological challenges in the months leading up to that fatal tick of the clock. So the hard work may have paid off, but all the fear we found ourselves swimming in didn’t contribute to the smooth transition at all.

Besides jugs of pure water and batteries, consumers were encouraged to stock up on medications and first aid supplies, flashlights, cash, fuel, battery-operated radios and basic necessities like toiletries and hygiene products. My husband and I gave in to fear enough to buy a stock of batteries and about five jugs of water. Over the years we used up the batteries but when we moved eight years ago we found a couple of jugs of Y2K water still in our crawl space. We laughed remembering that we went out to dinner on New Year’s Eve 1999 to a very expensive restaurant we hadn’t been to before (nor since). As my husband paid the tab he quipped, “Well, we can come back here next millennium.”

No doubt there will be attempts to whip us all into a frenzy of fear in the year to come. Certainly we see events in our country and our world that concern us deeply, but as in Y2K our fears won’t contribute to solving the issues, only our hard work and optimism will make a difference. Fears can paralyze us, making us feel powerless over our lives. Better to choose faith over fear and slam the door on fear mongers. The Ark Encounter in Kentucky sells sweatshirts with the motto “Faith Like Noah.” That’s what we need.

Worry seems to be a basic failing of humankind, however, and we worry about what we fear. Speaking to believers in the sovereign God, Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “We are allowed to plan for tomorrow but we are not allowed to worry about it.”

Jesus also encouraged us not to worry in Matthew, Chapter 6, often called the “mental health” chapter of the Bible. He asks, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27). He speaks of how God cares for the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field and then says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).

I need these reminders as much as anyone. Psalm 121:3 says, He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber. Let’s resolve to move into 2024 facing any fears we have for the future head on and remembering that faith always overcomes fear. May you have a happy and fearless New Year!

(This was first published in The Country Register, January-February 2024 Edition. Reading it again now I suppose my word for 2024 is FEARLESS!)

A Word for 2021

January 11, 2021 by Nancy 18 Comments

Years ago author Debbie Macomber wrote a book titled One Perfect Word detailing her experiences of choosing one word to focus on for each New Year—a word that could guide her as she reflected on it. Like so many of us I was weary of making New Year’s Resolutions that felt more like chastisements than goals. After all, how many times can we clean out the garage or lose the same eight pounds? So I decided to give the idea of choosing just one word a chance.

That first year my word hit me like a ton of bricks. I was on a walk in my neighborhood in early January. I must have been watching the sidewalk for icy spots because it wasn’t until the second time I passed by a neighbor’s yard that I noticed a leftover Christmas display spelling out the word JOY in three-foot high red letters! Yes, I had almost missed the joy, but at that moment I knew it would be my word for the year. I would focus on all the joy I found around me.

Another year I chose the word LISTEN, or rather it chose me. It seemed everything I read or experienced was reminding me of the importance of listening—to those I love, to the wisdom around me, to the birds and other sounds of nature, and even to my own heart. Simply to listen.

You’ll notice I said the word chose me, and that’s truly the only way this exercise works. You can’t force your word choice. In the years a word did not choose me, I didn’t have a word for that year! Simple as that.

I’ve been given a word for 2021 however, and that word is RESTORE. After the year we have all experienced, we need some restoration. Those who’ve been sick want to restore their health. It may take more than a year to restore my optimism about our country, but I can stop watching the news and focus on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable…(Phil. 4:8). That should restore my hope.

I surely need to restore my enthusiasm for planning dinners at home by digging out some inspirational cookbooks. I need to replenish my creativity by taking on a new writing project—one that will take me into that writing zone that restores. And I need to restore my passion for ministering to older adults.

As I ponder the word restore, a favorite praise song comes to mind. “Restore to Me,” sung by Zach Williams, beautifully brings to life these words from Psalm 51:10-12: Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. And so RESTORE becomes more than my word for the year. It becomes my prayer. Open your heart and let a word choose you. Happy New Year.

“Clarity” for 2016

January 20, 2016 by Nancy 14 Comments

Sometimes you choose a word; sometimes a word chooses you. Several people I admire have announced a “one-word theme” for 2016. Words like strength, inspiration, courage. Yet I didn’t think I had a word for this year. Then it descended upon me like the dove that lands on my neighbor’s roof early each morning. Clarity. My word is clarity.

Now that I know my word, however, I have to admit that I’m not clear what it means or why it’s to be my word for the year! It’s possible it will take me all year to unpack it fully. Yet a few applications are evident.

I do want clarity in my work life. The last two books I’ve written, The Hope of Glory and Take My Hand Again, have received positive, heartfelt reviews from people who have read them. I know they could be encouraging many more people to navigate old age gracefully, or to help aging parents face the future with hope and optimism. And so I pray for clarity about how to reach more readers.

I want clarity in my relationships. At 68, I can no longer think of myself as middle-aged. I have yet to meet anyone 136. I want to look at the relationships that mean the most to me with renewed clarity and to never take a single one of them for granted. Have I told the people I love how much I love them? Have I clearly told my friends how much they have contributed to my life? Have I cleared up any misunderstandings and asked for forgiveness if necessary? If not, this is the year for such clarity.

I want clarity in my spiritual walk. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12 KJV). I know I won’t have perfect clarity about all things spiritual until I see the Lord face to face, but through prayer, studying the Word, and the fellowship of believers, I hope to wipe away a bit more of the fog this year. Psalm 119:105 has always been an encouraging verse for me. It reads: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” I trust that if I stay in this light I will clearly see where to place my foot next on my spiritual journey.

Where else will a focus on the word clarity take me this year? Clarity about what eating plan to follow or where to exercise? Time will tell. For now it’s written in capital letters on a sticky note stuck to the bookshelf above my computer. Clearly, it’s a start.

All the best to all of you as you seek to discern what the New Year has to offer. I’d love to hear your one-word theme if you have one. Happy 2016!

Looking Back…Briefly

December 30, 2015 by Nancy 12 Comments

A funny thing happened at my church last Sunday. A computer glitch prevented the words from the praise songs to appear on the screen in front of the worship center, so everyone in the congregation turned to read the words on the screen on the back wall. The screen usually seen only by the worship team.

I had slipped into the restroom just before the service, so imagine my surprise when I came in a back door to find that the whole congregation was facing backward…and seeing me walk in! Families arriving late who thought they were sneaking into the back of the church were similarly surprised.

We all had a good laugh about the computer glitch and the creative solution, but later I thought, “What an appropriate way to worship God on the last Sunday of the year: looking back with praise to Him for all He did and all He brought us through.”

The challenge is to look back this time of year without getting stuck in the past. We need to look back to remember the good and the bad, and the way our lives were protected and directed by God. We need to look back to decide what, if anything, is worth carrying with us into the next year. What relationships, what goals, what challenges? But then it’s time to turn all the way around, face the future, and move into the new year with confidence that He who got us this far won’t abandon us now.

Sometimes we know what the next year will bring. Graduations are on the books. Plans for a June wedding are in place. A move or a new job is in the wind. An elective surgery is scheduled. A vacation deposit is made. But more often we aren’t sure what will happen between the sunrises and sunsets of the days that make up the year to come.

So much uncertainty can be unsettling. Then we remember that God said, “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6). And so we trust. We turn to face the new year head on, full of confidence and belief not in ourselves, but in the One who loves us, holds our days in His hands, and promises us eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

May God bless and keep you in 2016. Happy New Year!

Happy Fresh Year!

January 2, 2014 by Nancy 16 Comments

New snow. The first rays of dawn. A crisp apple. We appreciate all these things and more because they are fresh—unspoiled and full of promise. Should we appreciate this fresh, new year any less?

The problem many of us have is not how to appreciate the freshness of the new year, but how to keep it fresh. A diet that includes plenty of healthy fruits and vegetables is always a good idea, but that alone won’t sustain freshness. No amount of Tupperware® or Saran Wrap® will do the job either. We have to make a conscious effort to keep things fresh all year long—beginning with our own attitudes.

What comes to mind when you think of celebrating and sustaining freshness in your life? I’ll list just a few thoughts in hopes of motivating you to think of more:

Fresh marriage. My husband and I celebrated 25 wonderful years together last summer, but I never want to take God’s gift of a second, redemptive marriage for granted. I’m going to look for ways to keep our love fresh as we move toward a time of life neither of us has experienced before—to be open to new places, energizing experiences, and innovative living arrangements.

Fresh work. I’m writing a new book: a creative exercise with all the joys and angst of birthing a baby. I want to keep my work fresh—to use more primary resources and less of my tried-and-true secondary ones. To think thoughts I’ve never had and use vivid, descriptive words so that I deliver a fresh manuscript to the publisher by the April deadline, not a stale one.

Fresh friendship. This year I want to be totally present with friends old and new. To truly listen when they speak and find a fresh level of intimacy with each one. Friendship is a treasure to cherish—and keep fresh.

Fresh faith. A new year means beginning a new daily devotional, but what else will be fresh about my faith? According to Isaiah 43:18-19, we can always count on the Lord to bring freshness and renewal. The Lord said through Isaiah, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?” I don’t want to miss any fresh, new thing the Lord wants to do in me this year. In fact, I want to recapture the freshness of the hour I first believed.

How about you? How will you keep 2014 fresh until the last day of December? May you have a happy, healthy new year—and may it stay fresh!

What’s New with You?

January 3, 2013 by Nancy 21 Comments

Are you, like me, tired of the same old New Year’s feature stories and articles? I mean really. Can a TV program convince us to lose weight or exercise if we haven’t made those commitments already? And do we really care about the latest trends in fashion for the new year? Or how to organize our kitchens, closets, offices, or garages? We’ve been there and done that. And if we feel like it, we’ll do it again. But not because we read an article about it or saw it on TV!

Still, we shouldn’t let our cynicism about stock New Year’s features keep us from using the new year for a much needed jump start or as motivation to make some necessary changes. So what’s going to be new with you? What change are you ready to make not just because it’s the first week of January, but because you’re ready to make it? Think about that while I share a few of mine.

First, I’m ready for a new perspective on politics. Seeing the movie “Lincoln” reminded me that leadership can be either exemplary and unifying, as it was with our 16^th president, or deplorable and divisive. But that regardless, our nation will survive for as long as God wills it—not a day longer and not a day less. So we can do our best to be responsible citizens, and we can pray. That’s it. My new perspective includes letting go of the sadness about our nation that has been upon me for so long now. It’s weighing me down and making me unpleasant to be around, and it’s got to go.

Second, I can feel in my bones that this is the year I will deliver on my desire to “downsize in place.” My husband and I aren’t ready to leave our home for smaller digs because we still love having room for kids and grandkids to visit. But we are both ready to jettison a whole lot of the stuff in it: to streamline our lives in every conceivable way so that we’re ready for whatever the future holds. I don’t need a fortune teller to tell me there are a lot of large, black trash bags in our future. It’s going to happen!

Third, although I haven’t taken time for granted for many years now, I’m going to take more seriously the wisdom of Psalm 90:12: Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. As trite as it sounds, each day IS a gift. I have no idea how many I have left to do the work I feel God has called me to do, but I’m wise enough to know there’s no longer time for procrastination. This year I will be keenly aware of time and treat it with respect.

My sister Mary called me this morning and commented on the first devotion in the book God Calling, edited by A. J. Russell, that we are both reading this year. Written by two British women who met to pray together in the 1930’s, it contains the things they believed God was saying to them through his son Jesus Christ. In the January 1 entry we read: I stand between the years. The Light of My Presence is flung across the year to come—the radiance of the Sun of Righteousness. Backward, over the past year, is My Shadow thrown, hiding trouble and sorrow and disappointment. Dwell not on the past—only on the present. I determined not to let the past use up too much of the present many years ago. But, with the Lord’s help, I’ll be even more focused on the present as I move into this new year.

What about you? What’s new with you?

(Thanks to my grandson Peter for being my model once again. This was taken on New Year’s Eve 2009. If this doesn’t get you going, what will?)