I have a blackboard painted on my wall in the kitchen and every week I wipe it clean and start again with my lists of things to do and the quotes I want to carry me through the week. I have kept Jesus' advice chalked up on my board for the past 3 weeks because it seems needed at the moment.
" I have told you these things so that in Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration, but be of good cheer, take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted! For I have overcome the world. I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you."
John 16:33 - The Amplified Bible
That is what I love about Jesus. He does all the hard work and we get the benefits. In every new challenging circumstance He tells me that He wants to be something new for me that He couldn't be before the circumstances changed.
Last night, Wednesday night ( September 20th 2017 ) the Jewish New Year began. Rosh Hashanah ushers in 2 days of celebrating, eating food with family and the blowing of the Shophar, Rams Horn. The celebrations finish at sundown on Friday which is then the beginning of Shabbat, the Sabbath day of rest on Saturday.
This is also the Islamic New Year, Al- Hijra.
It makes sense that the New Year in the Middle East is tied in with the beginning of the agricultural cycle. Our academic year in Britain also begins in September and there is a feeling about Autumn which brings with it new projects, new courses, new direction at this time of year. (The Jewish New Year is also said to mark the creation of life on earth.)
I mention all of this because I once experienced December 31st in Jerusalem and it was a shock to the system because it is just another night like any other. There are no fireworks, no parties and no countdown to midnight. January 1st is just another day in Israel with nothing special to mark it from any other day.
It is good to shake ourselves out of our Western cultural mindsets and realise that we are not the centre of the world and our way of doing things are not necessarily the best. Our New Year is not the same as the one marked in China or the Jewish and Arab world.
The Jewish year is turning over to 5778, ending 5777. I don't think that it is a coincidence that last year was very unusual. I have been amazed at what came out of last year. Houses have been sold. Jobs changed. We are leaving the EU. There has been death in certain relationships and physical death. The new things have put down root and in the natural I am not yet sure of any of the outcomes. It has been quite a whirlwind at times, the changes have come fast and overnight the world has been turned upside down.
In the midst of the new things and the death of the old ones I keep reminding myself of something Jesus said ... take courage, be undaunted!
Graham Cooke is a wise man who has great influence on my life and has taught me to stop asking 'WHY?'
It is the question I ask all the time but it does lead me on a rabbit trail of confusion. Graham has taught me that my new question for God is ... "WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FOR ME IN THIS SITUATION?"
That takes the emphasis off me and the problem and places it on the solution and the provision. It lifts me out of a state of paralysing questioning and gets me into a place of forward movement.
It has been painful to partake in some of the changes that came out of last year. It has been painful to watch others work through the changes. I saw this quote written out by a friend and rewrote it on my wall.
THIS PAIN - IT IS A GLACIER MOVING THROUGH YOU
AND CARVING OUT DEEP VALLEYS
AND CREATING SPECTACULAR LANDSCAPES
AND NOURISHING THE GROUND WITH PRECIOUS MINERALS AND OTHER STUFF.
SO DON'T BECOME PARALYSED WITH FEAR WHEN THINGS SEEM PARTICULARLY ROUGH
- John Grant
This prose paints a great visual image and it is an encouragement to embrace rather than question pain.
