May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you. Psalm 25:21
I'm not into New Year's resolutions. Mainly because they set our human flesh up for disappointment and failure, and I've pretty much got that covered for life. However, these last several years, I've had a word. Not a goal, not a declaration, but a single word the Lord engrained into my spirit.
The word has been everything from white space to sit to the phrase, Here I am. For 2020, my word is HOPE. Hope is the absolute expectation of coming good. As I pack away the Christmas ornaments, untangle the lights, and we drag the balsam fir tree out into the field to be burned, a New Year awakens, and my soul cries out for peace as the coming year approaches rapidly.
If I were candid with you, I'd share how new years cause me both excitement and anxiety. While I look forward to that fresh, crisp page, I wrestle with fear for the unknown. This past couple of months, I've been intensely focused on gratitude and knitting a heart of thanksgiving into my thoughts. It has refreshed me and broken chains—chains I thought might never loosen. Slowly, I have learned the power of shifting my mind away from society's narrative and joining it with the hymns and songs and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19) that I choose to see daily in my coming and going. And through this renewal, I have seen hope. The absolute expectation of coming good.
I think of The Last Supper. The sacred meal that Jesus "eagerly desired to eat" (Luke 22:15) with His disciples. I'm learning how preparation was required for that moment of hope to be experienced. Peter and John would purchase a lamb and take it to the temple to be slain. They would then take the lamb to the house and roast it, and the table would be furnished with wine, unleavened bread, and the paste of bitter herbs that reminded the Jews of their long and bitter bondage in Egypt (Wiersbe). And they would give thanks and eat.
Even in the clanking dishes and the piles of laundry and the creaky hardwood floors I've cleaned a hundred times...I'm learning to give thanks and see hope. I'm learning to enjoy the activity of preparation more because I expect coming good from the moment. As the manly men gather around the wooden, battered table, we talk about the risks we took and the emotions we experienced that day. Moment by moment, we encounter hope. Together. The absolute expectation of coming good.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12
What's your word for 2020? Make time today to sit and expectantly listen to God. You'll hear a grace-filled word, and then that word will pop up somewhere else—in your quiet time, while talking to a friend, while listening to a song. It will reverberate in your heart over and over if you choose to stop the noise for a bit.
Once you have your word, I encourage you to share it with others who will commit to praying with you and for you throughout 2020. I've turned on the comments feature for this post in case you'd like to list it below. If you do, I'll be certain to add your word to my list with the others I'm praying alongside.
Blessings in 2020. May you live surrendered!