A Life in Exile

Living overseas or serving in ministry can change your perspective on holidays. The typical American holidays are not celebrated, so we end up working on Thanksgiving or Independence Day, and Christmas and Easter can even be on a completely different day, depending on your country of service, or not celebrated at all. So, what does that say about New Year’s Day?

I’m not one to recommend New Year’s resolutions, because they are more like wishful thinking related to self-centered goals. I do, however, believe God gives us the framework of time for a purpose, and the reminder that we are beginning a new year is beneficial to our spiritual lives and ministry.

Time brings balance.

Light and dark, day and night, hours to work and rest, are all instruments of God’s creation in order that we will fulfill his purposes for us. This past year for me has been one of the best in applying myself to the principle of taking time to rest, as I have learned to say no to ministry that was stealing my rest. I also set time aside to make my Sundays a day of true rest. For me, that meant coming home from church and spending the afternoon reading and taking a nap. Though I was still able to add a discipleship group meeting on every other Sunday, it did not overwhelm my day.

When you look back at the past year, how well did you balance work and rest? Did you “work while it was still day” to the point that you pushed yourself physically and emotionally to a dangerous breaking point? Even if visits happened in the evenings, because of your adopted culture, did you make time to balance that with rest in the day? What can you do differently in the new year to live within your capacity and in following God’s guidelines?

Seasons bring natural closure.

Along with days and nights, God also created seasons. Just as the natural world needs times of dormancy to grow stronger, God allows us to evaluate ministries and relationships in the same light. Have you been serving in a ministry, where good things might be happening, but in which you find yourself exhausted because you’ve been handling everything on your own?

Allowing the season to change in ministry is healthy. It might be that you need to begin to train new people to lead the work. As you step back from direct leadership and invest for a season in others who can practice in your presence and eventually take over, you can then move into new work. If a ministry is not bearing fruit after a long period of investment, ask the Lord if it’s not time to stop it, re-evaluate what was done, and seek his guidance on next steps.

When we stopped hosting a fellowship in our home, God blessed and divided the group into two, growing the Body of Christ in amazing ways. Our role changed from leadership to mentorship during that season of service.

Years bring reflection and anticipation.

The blessings of time are given us in Creation, and with the creation of the sun and moon, God allowed for days, months, and years. Knowing his “mercies are new every morning,” we can wake up each day to a blank slate for God to work in and through us. With each month, we’re able to think about what’s ahead for the coming weeks, and plan.

Are years any different? Is January 1^st just another day or is it an opportunity to stop and listen to God speak to our hearts in a new way? While it’s easy when in ministry, to just press on without ceasing, I believe God has given us time for a purpose, and he wants us to contemplate how we use it.

Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

Psalm 90:12

The ninetieth psalm is a wonderful reminder of how God has given us time and unlike what we will know in eternity, on earth it is limited. As you consider the year ahead, I encourage you to meditate on this psalm and consider some of the following:

• The Lord is our refuge, as he has been for every generation.
• God is eternal, we will return to dust.
• God’s concept of time is completely different from that which he’s set for mankind.
• Our days are numbered and short.
• A man’s life is limited to seventy or eighty years.
• When we look at our days in light of our limitations, we develop wisdom.
• May we rejoice for as many days as the Lord has given us.
• May we see the Lord at work in our lives and world.
• May the Lord show his favor to us and establish the work of our hands.

You have this year ahead—a blank slate in our eyes, but not in God’s. Where does this year fall in the potential timeline of your years of life? In the years of your youth? Your prime? Your mature years? How does that change your perspective on the ways the Lord may want to use you in this new year?

As you number this day, day one of a new year, may the Lord give you wisdom to see where he is working and join him, and as you do, may you find his favor. Happy New Year.

Grace and Peace

To read another New Year’s reflection, click HERE. Also, read Seasons in Service.