Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present.
I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is!
I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.
(Isaiah43:18-19 MSG)
Dear Zion Church family and friends,
A friend of mine, Spiritual Director, Duane Grobman, wrote the following:
As we transition to a new year, how might you go about writing a new story in your life? How might you start a new chapter? What are ways you could reauthor your life with an eye toward growth and change? What steps could you take to let go of historic barriers and burdens, connect with your soul, awaken anew, and be fully present? Are there stories you’ve been telling yourself that you need to replace or rewrite?
A starting point is honest prayer – prayer in the sense that author Frederick Buechner speaks of when he observed: If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that he speaks to us largely through what happens to us…. His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling. In that sense autobiography becomes a way of praying, and….if it matters at all, matters mostly as a call to prayer.
As you contemplate the stories that will comprise your autobiography in 2025, what changes would you like to pray and work toward? What steps of faith would you like to take? In what areas of your life would you like God’s light and love to break through and bring change? We can’t change the past, but we can author new life narratives.
Author Donald Miller writes in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years of a revealing conversation he had with a friend. Miller recalls:
“You’re writing another book about yourself?” Jordan asked. He was sitting at the counter in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal….
“I’m not writing a book. I’m not talking about a book. I’m talking about me. I don’t think I’m telling a good story.”
“I think you tell good stories. Lots of people think so.”
“I tell good stories in books. I don’t live good stories.”
continued
Jordan poured more milk on his cereal. He was looking at me while pouring the milk. He was squinting his eyes a little and furrowing his brow. He stopped pouring the milk. He kept looking at me for ten seconds or more, like he was studying me.
“You’re right,” he finally said. “You aren’t living a good story.”
“That’s what I was saying.”
“I see,” he said.
“What do I do about that?”
“You’re a writer. You know what to do.”
“No, I don’t.”
Jordan looked at me with his furrowed brow again. “You put something on the page,” he said. “Your life is a blank page. You write on it.”
Here’s to writing on the blank pages of 2025. May God encourage and empower us all to write a good new story this year.
***
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them.
I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart.
(Ezekiel 11:19 NLT)
Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start,
is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!
(2 Corinthians 5:17 MSG)
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
(Revelation 21:4-5 NLT)