Crawling Out From Under the Weather
The New Year whimpered in for me this time. Waves of nausea never amounting to anything more than an overall feeling of blech combined with a slight fever to keep me under the weather and under the covers for the past couple of days.
We did manage to have people over for New Year's Eve, but I'm afraid I wasn't much of a host -- wandering around with my ginger ale in hand trying not to look miserable.
I know 2005 was like every other year. It was filled with heartache and pain. It was also filled with unspeakable joy. It was, in other words, a mixed bag. Who can forget the images of devastation from the tsunami? Or the millions of people impacted by Hurricane Katrina? Who will ever forget how people rallied to the aid of those people -- the millions of dollars and unbelievable outpouring of physical support offered to those in need? The surprising generosity demonstrated by people from all four corners of the nation?
Children were born. Marriages were lost. People bought new homes. Others filed for bankruptcy. The year 2005 was like every other year: it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
Odds are 2006 will be much the same. Cities are being rebuilt. Lives are being made whole again. Things are not as good as they could be; nor have they been as bad as they could have been. Fires are burning across the plains even now as people are holding newborn babies in their arms.
God's Kingdom has been introduced into our world and will not relent until it has taken over completely. Every year we are one year closer to the fulfillment of God's promise to make everything new, to redeem what has been lost and turn everything that is currently upside-down rightside-up.
Every January we look back, and we look forward. We look back and remember the things that are reminders of the already-ness and the not-yet-ness of God's presence. We look forward to the day when we have finally crawled out from under the weather into the clear skies of the City of God.
We did manage to have people over for New Year's Eve, but I'm afraid I wasn't much of a host -- wandering around with my ginger ale in hand trying not to look miserable.
I know 2005 was like every other year. It was filled with heartache and pain. It was also filled with unspeakable joy. It was, in other words, a mixed bag. Who can forget the images of devastation from the tsunami? Or the millions of people impacted by Hurricane Katrina? Who will ever forget how people rallied to the aid of those people -- the millions of dollars and unbelievable outpouring of physical support offered to those in need? The surprising generosity demonstrated by people from all four corners of the nation?
Children were born. Marriages were lost. People bought new homes. Others filed for bankruptcy. The year 2005 was like every other year: it was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
Odds are 2006 will be much the same. Cities are being rebuilt. Lives are being made whole again. Things are not as good as they could be; nor have they been as bad as they could have been. Fires are burning across the plains even now as people are holding newborn babies in their arms.
God's Kingdom has been introduced into our world and will not relent until it has taken over completely. Every year we are one year closer to the fulfillment of God's promise to make everything new, to redeem what has been lost and turn everything that is currently upside-down rightside-up.
Every January we look back, and we look forward. We look back and remember the things that are reminders of the already-ness and the not-yet-ness of God's presence. We look forward to the day when we have finally crawled out from under the weather into the clear skies of the City of God.
posted by john alan turner at 12:57 PM
<< Home