I’m a big New Year’s Day person.
I love the fresh start…the endless possibilities. I love to get organized, set goals, and yes – even make resolutions.
This year is no different.
I’ve cleaned out my inboxes. I’ve started a new calendar and planner. I’ve created a meal plan, refreshed my routines and have set my reading, career and healthy lifestyle goals.
Yep – I’m that person.
Part of my commitment to these New Year’s Day activities year after year is that I know me – I know that I am most well in mind, soul and body when I have clear routines in place – Get up, study and pray, make the bed, walk, write – these are the things that day after day help keep my soul settled and focused on God. And when these things get out-of-whack as they often due in the hustle and bustle of the holidays at the end of each year, I can literally feel myself sliding toward unwellness. I lose focus, and my old enemies of doubt and depression start to creep in…quickly gaining a foothold.
But the older I get, and the more years that rack up in this life as a Christ follower, the more I realize that while these things are the right tools for me – goals, routines, plans, trackers, writing – they are all rubbish in the spotlight of God’s sovereignty.
And, I wouldn’t want it any other way.
There is nothing wrong with the work I do – the planning, the calendaring, the decluttering – these are all right and good. But they are not my savior. They are not my life-giver. And any plan or goal I may put in place can and will be shattered, if it is not God’s will for my life – if He does not give me the grace and ability to achieve completion.
There’s a song we sang at the end of our Worship Service this New Year’s Sunday, that I first heard several years ago when I was in the midst of some very dark days. Days where I felt like a failure as a mom, as a friend, and as a Christ-follower. Days in which I was often asking myself – why bother? Why keep trying?
The song is “All Glory be to Christ” – sung to the familiar New Year’s Eve tune of Auld Lang Syne. When I first heard the words, they were a shock to my languishing heart – my prideful, burdened heart – a sharp reminder that my life is not my own, and that there is much comfort in that as long as I also know and believe that my God’s sovereignty is my only hope. My only hope. He is my salvation, and His plans for me are good and right, even when I do not understand them. The words of this song pull my planning, goal-setting, routine-loving drive back in line with Scripture – back in line with God’s sovereignty and will for my life. Scripture such as:
Proverbs 19:21 – Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Psalm 135:6 – Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
and
Job 42:2 – I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
This hymn, with words written by Dustin Kensrue, acknowledges that no matter what – NO MATTER WHAT – comes of my plans and routines and goals this year – in all of it, through success or failure, in the joyful and in the hard times – what stands is this: All Glory Be to Christ.
I want these words to be what I utter first upon waking, and what I sigh out of my soul as I end each day – All Glory be to Christ.
All Glory be to Christ
Should nothing of our efforts stand, No legacy survive,
Unless the Lord does raise the house, In vain its builders strive.
To you who boast tomorrow’s gain, Tell me, what is your life?
A mist, it vanishes at dawn, All glory be to Christ.
All glory be to Christ our King, All glory be to Christ.
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing, All glory be to Christ.
His will be done, His kingdom come, On earth as is above.
Who is Himself our daily bread, Praise Him the Lord of love.
Let living waters satisfy the thirsty without price.
Come eat of Him, our Living Bread, all glory be to Christ.
All glory be to Christ our King, All glory be to Christ.
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing, All glory be to Christ.
When on the day, the great I Am, the faithful and the true,
The Lamb who was for sinner’s slain, Is making all things new.
Behold our God shall live with us, And be our steadfast Light,
And we shall e’er his people be, All glory be to Christ.
All glory be to Christ our King, All glory be to Christ.
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing, All glory be to Christ.
All glory be to Christ our King, All glory be to Christ.
His rule and reign we’ll ever sing, All glory be to Christ.
