“. . . walk in a manner worth of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:1b-3
I was sharing this with a friend of mine recently, and it occurred to me it would be good to share it with the readers of my blog. Several years ago I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions. It had seemed that they were the same nearly every year, and every year, since I had failed to meet these little self-made obligations, they were unfulfilled. As would any discerning individual, I had to stop and ask myself a question. If I couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) keep my vows that I had made to myself, what was to be gained by making them? (Of course, this begs the question that if I could not to myself be true, how could I be true to others? And on that goes.) At any rate, I decided it would be much more profitable, not to mention honest, to choose a scripture passage to act as my guide for the year ahead. And so I have done that.
The above Ephesians passage was my selection for 2022.
And so, you might ask, why am I sharing this with you in April? Excellent question, my friend. I think it might have something to do with things like circadian rhythms, or perception versus reality, or maybe it’s just the phase of the moon. Do you remember when you were in school (or when your children were in school) and school always started in September? (Yes, my dears, back in the old days school started AFTER Labor Day!) Somehow it became more or less ingrained that the year really began in September, rather than January. Even long after I had graduated and my children had graduated, it still felt like September was a beginning, rather than merely #9 out of 12.
As I have aged, I have seemed to accept that, OK, January really is the first of the year. And I no longer have those impulses in September. However, there is a niggling little part of my brain that there is something wrong about having January lead in the new year in the dark and cold. A new year should be joy-filled and forward-looking. All I want to do in the deep-freeze of January is hop back into bed and cover up my head and wait for spring. And therein, dear ones, is your answer. April just fits better.
So let me think of these things. Let me mull over the thoughts and depths of my passage in Ephesians. Let me answer the deep questions: Am I walking in a manner worthy of the calling with which I have been called? Do I display humility and gentleness, with patience, to those around me? Have I shown forbearance to others (regardless of whether the other shows forbearance to me) in love for that one? Am I diligent in preserving “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?” Wow, those are deep questions. They deserve some serious contemplation. They call for the quiet reasoning in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
That’s a lot more substantial than having to ask myself those other questions. You know the ones.
Have I exercised 5 days a week?
Have it lost 30 pounds?
Have I read 2 books a week?
Have I written the thank-you notes?
Am I seriously going to go on that trip this year?
So let me just encourage you to think about substituting a Life Scripture habit over a list of unfulfilled “shoulda-woulda-couldas” hanging around your neck like the proverbial albatross for the next eight months. Come into the sunshine with me. Let us skip gaily through the green spring grass with the light breezes playing through our hair, thinking of higher and better things. Doesn’t that sound like a better way of life?
Or not. Just an idea. Just a suggestion. At any rate, enjoy a joyous Resurrection Day knowing the love and care of the Savior.