LIGHT: My Word for 2023

 As I reflected back upon the past year and looked forward to 2023, I thought about what words would inspire me in the future.  Hope has been a theme for me for the past two years and while we were going through a worldwide pandemic, it seemed very appropriate and needed in my life.  This year, looking ahead at 2023, my husband and I have been talking a lot about what we want for our year, our health, and our relationships.  We want to feel good and fit and be able to move well and carry whatever we need to carry.  We want to move and stretch and grow our physical bodies.  We have also talked about how focusing on our own well-being has a ripple effect into our other relationships and can be a positive influence in our lives.  

My daughter and I both chose the word “Light” for this year as a word to inspire us!  Light is the opposite of darkness and can be a guide, leading along a path or into a room.  Sunlight gives us warmth and brings the flowers, grass, and trees to life in the spring and summer.  We also talked about how it is good to feel “light” and to put down our burdens and lighten our load by trusting in God.  

I want to be a positive influence to those around me and to be a light-bearer.  I can’t do this out of my own power at all, but with the presence of God and the Holy Spirit in my life, I can share their light with those around me.  My light is only a small reflection of the glory and beautiful light and comes from God. God’s light can illuminate my circumstances from His perspective and bring clarity to situations where I am uncertain or confused.  The joy of the Lord is my strength and sharing joy, hope, and love can bring light to a dark world.  When we share the light of God, darkness disappears and people can start to imagine that there is a reason to hope again. 

The first thing that God ever spoke in the Bible was light when he declared in Genesis 1:3, “Let there be light”.  Genesis also states that “God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness”, creating day and night.  John 1 also describes who Jesus was with God in the beginning of the world and that nothing was made without Him.  John 1:4-5 says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus is the light of all people!  He offers us light and life that lasts eternally.  

I am hoping to find more light in my life in the coming year and I will be looking for it and sharing it with others along the way!

Waiting

As I look out upon the winter scene, the bare grey trees look lifeless and dead.  I do not see any signs of life from within.  Trees can be deceiving in winter, even while they appear to have no life, winter is when they are storing up energy and preparing for the next cycle of life coming in the spring.  Winter days can drag on when it's cold outside, with cloudy grey days and not a lot of sunshine.  It feels sometimes as if we are just passing time in the winter with no real productivity.  The first part of the year can feel depressing after the holidays are over and we say goodbye to the lazy days of winter break. 

 

We wait for spring to come but waiting is a part of many seasons of life.  I have had to wait so many times for something in the distant future that felt like it would never come.  We wait for the perfect relationship, marriage, a career change, children, a new home, or a vacation.  We know the pain of seeing a goal in the future but being required to wait.  Like the lifeless looking trees which are growing on the inside, how can I use the waiting periods of my life to grow on the inside, too?  Am I a lifeless being, just passing time, or am I waiting on the Lord, while learning as much as I can from His Word and continuing to share His hope with others?   

 

Throughout God’s Word we are encouraged to be patient and wait upon the Lord.  Joseph of Genesis was given a vision as a young teen that he would one day lead his family, even though he was almost the youngest of twelve sons.  After his brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph endured many years of being falsely accused, imprisoned, and serving in the households of others.  In his waiting, he continued to live a life that others noticed because of his hard work, wisdom, and character.  There must have been years when he gave up on his vision and thought it would never come true, but God continued to bless him.  

 

Through all of his waiting Joseph developed himself to eventually become the leader chosen to be Pharoah's second in command!  He did not waste away his years of waiting but made them productive and allowed God to lead him, even when his life did not make sense.  Joseph told his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”  Eventually, his journey made sense and he could see the purpose in it.  Not only did Joseph help save the nation of Egypt during a famine, but he also ended up saving his own family who had come in search of grain.  God did grant the vision to come true, but it happened in a much different way than Joseph or his family could have anticipated.  

 

While we wait, how can we continue to steward what we have already been given?  How can we grow in our ability to demonstrate kindness and compassion toward others?  What is God able to do because we are waiting and not running ahead of his plans?  During a season that feels like cold grey winter, what seeds of spring can God grow in you while you wait?