January 2nd is always an odd day each year. It feels like the true first day of the year. Perhaps, like me you've been dreading cleaning out your inbox from a week of neglect. Or perhaps, also like me, you're only partially ready to fire up some semblance of routine again. Ready or not, here we are. Allow me to share a thought while the cellophane is still on 2024.
A Confounding Encounter
I briefly met a man in Wawa yesterday. He told me that he had been born in 1933. It took me way too long to do the math in my head. Even though he was 90 years old, he didn't look a day over 70. Confounding.
But that isn't the part that stuck with me most. As he walked towards he checkout counter, he made this simple statement: "I never thought I would see the year 2024." It struck me profoundly. In that moment, I looked at this new year through his eyes, not mine. He said it with the undertone of living with borrowed time--but aren't we all?
The Middle Portion
This short exchange took me to the words of a song that my kids have been playing on repeat lately: "As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul." This phrase has been going through my head nonstop. And, while most people know the beginning of the psalm to which this line is referring, I want to share the middle portion:
PSALM 103
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
Daily Anticipation
God has granted us the gift of another year. There are 366 new batches of daily mercies poised to show up more faithfully than your Amazon deliveries. I hope that you are entering 2024 with anticipating eyes turned towards heaven to see what God will do in and through you this year.
In the year 2076, when I'm in Wawa talking to some whipper-snapper, I hope that I will still be filled with wonder at the Lord's mercy in allowing me to take a breath in another year.
I'm looking forward to this year. I pray you are as well.
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Jonny Radcliff is a Youth Minister, Speaker, and National Coordinator of Resource Development at NNYM. He lives in Pennsylvania (Go Birds) with his amazing wife Sarah and their four incredible kids.