Banquet on New Year’s Day

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Back in 1961 when I first got my driver’s license, one of the places I couldn’t wait to drive to was McDonald’s. My friends and I loved their greasy hamburgers ($.25) and fries ($.10), and going someplace our parents didn’t like held a certain charm. (“Eat in the car?” they’d say. “Unthinkable!”) But there was no place we’d rather dine, no menu more delicious.

Those Golden Arches were a welcome site to me 50 years ago and still are today. Much has changed about McDonald’s, but we can always count on the same tasty burgers and fries. No matter where the familiar arches appear, we won’t be disappointed, because we know what they represent.

Today is the first day of a new year, and just like the Golden Arches let us know what’s beneath them, I’ve chosen an identifying banner to arch over my 2012, something I’ll be asking God to make part of my year as sure as burgers and fries are part of McDonalds.

I’ve decided on Isaiah 30:15: ”In quietness and trust is your strength.”  God has said, “In the next 366 days (leap year), when your spirit gets riled, quiet it down. Trust me for the results of your year. Have confidence that I can expertly move you through whatever comes your way.”

The Bible is chuck full of practical promises like that, available for each of our 2012s. We can select or reject what God offers, but he never forces us to take advantage of the perks of being in his family. He simply lays them out like a beautifully prepared banquet, then lets us fill our plates as we wish. Or, we can leave the banquet table hungry.

My “golden arch” passage for 2012 also explains the possible results of ignoring God’s promises:

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! (Isaiah 30:15,16)

In other words, if you want to trust your “swift horses” rather than Me, you’ll find your enemies on horses that are swifter yet!

We might think our ideas of how to best manage the events of 2012 are superior to God’s, but from this Scripture we learn that isn’t true. His plans are always better than ours and are always made for our good, even when circumstances look otherwise. But that’s where the elements of quietness and trust come in as we wait on him.

I’m excited about “eating” a promise from God’s New Year’s banquet table, and I don’t doubt it’ll be more scrumptious than even a McDonald’s burger and fries.

“Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.” (Exodus 17:15)

What do you want most?

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In the days leading up to Christmas, family members focused on shopping for gifts, asking those on their list what they’d like most. Some insisted, “You don’t have to buy me anything.” Others said, “It doesn’t matter; just don’t spend too much.” Teens had long lists ready, and children changed their answers day-to-day.

When we asked 3 year old Skylar what she wanted most, her answer was always the same: “A calendar.”

“A calendar? Really?”

We asked again and again, but she stuck with her answer.

So I bought her what she asked for, a wall calendar with doggie pictures on each month. When she opened it Christmas morning, she studied the cover, turned it over and checked out the 12 different doggie pictures, then tossed it aside.

I couldn’t help but say, “Skylar, are you glad you got a calendar?”

“Sure, Grandma Midgee!” she said, reaching for a new gift.

Of course her calendar gift was more for grown-up laughs than childhood pleasure. All of us know Skylar has no concept of what a calendar is all about. The passing of time agitates adults week-to-week and day-to-day but is a non-factor with children. For example, if Skylar is asked, “When is your birthday?” she answers, “Um… I think it’s today!” We giggle at her lack of calendar savvy and remind her it’s not for 7 more months. But eventually her life will be dominated by a calendar just like the rest of us. For now, though, it’s lucky for Skylar.

Recently our family round-tabled the tabloid prediction that the world will come to an end on 12/12/12, about a year from now. Very few people will line up behind that idea, and Bible-believers understand that only God knows the exact date that time will end and calendars will become unnecessary.

But what does God think of our current obsession with charting our lives according to calendar dates? Is he laughing at us the same way we laughed at Skylar? He might be thinking, “You have the emphasis in all the wrong places.”

Maybe he wants us to believe there’s only one truly important date, the one on which time ends for each of us, whether by death or his return. Despite not being able to circle that date on a calendar, the rest of our lives would be aligned “decently and in order” if we focused on the knowledge that time will, indeed, end.

In 2012 I’ve decided to focus less intently on my wall calendar and more specifically on God’s over-arching purposes for the upcoming year. Skylar has been a good example for me: January 1st is almost here, but her doggie calendar is still in its cellophane sleeve.

“With all my heart I want your blessings. Be merciful as you promised. I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your laws. I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands.” (Psalm 119:58-60)

Keep it simple.

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One of the delights of being around children is listening to their logic. Skylar, age 3, came downstairs after nap time in a pensive mood. Having spent two weeks away from her “brown house” in Florida while visiting Grandma Midgee in Michigan, her thoughts were on home.

She was thinking about the different doors at her house, counting out loud. “I have a door in front and a door in back. I have a door to my porch and one to the garage.”

“What about the door to your bedroom?” I said.

“Yes, and Micah has a door to his room, too,” she said, “and Mommy, too.”

Then her brow furrowed as she thought for a minute. “But Daddy doesn’t have a room, so Mommy shares her room with him.” Then she added, “She’s a good sharer.”

In one sense, being a thoughtful child is a confusing existence. There’s much children don’t know but are on a quest to find out, struggling to put the mental pieces together without necessarily having all the information. But as Skylar ended the above conversation, she seemed content with her own conclusion.

A child’s mind somehow resists becoming confused. Kids have an incredible ability to line up what they know, accept the facts at face value, and rise above uncertainty.

Sometimes in studying the Bible, I’ll search for the answer to a spiritual question but end up more confused than when I started. Scripture can be perplexing, resulting in doubt. But God keeps it simple for those of us who need that:

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12) Simple.

And, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31) Simple.

Salvation is simple, clear-cut and plain. But how about living the Christian life? That gets complicated. Maybe, though, it isn’t as problematic as we think. Maybe we’re the ones making it that way, not God.

Most of us lean into an all-or-nothing philosophy, so when he sets forth his clear-cut path toward righteousness, we aren’t happy unless we can reach perfection, which of course we never can. But shouldn’t we believe him when he says he understands and knows our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak?

Maybe we should simply take a lesson from Skylar: accept at face value those things we know to be true, then move forward without complicating the facts. Simple.

“There is no time to waste, so don’t complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple —in marriage, grief, joy, whatever. Even in ordinary things—your daily routines of shopping, and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible with the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out.” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31 The Message)