Goodbye, 2018. Hello, 2019!

Sunday is the last Sunday of 2018. I always love this pause between the old year and the new. It is a chance to reflect on the year that has been and give thanks for all those whose lives touched mine. It is also a time to reflect on the baggage I have been carrying and consider what I need to let go of in order to enter the new year unencumbered.

Because there are definitely things I need to leave in 2018. Ephesians 4 urges us:

“Everything…connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces God’s character in you.” (Ephesians 4: 22-24, The Message)

Where bitterness has hardened my heart, may I let go of it so my heart may learn to feel again.

Where guilt has frozen me in my tracks, may I let go of it so I can move forward.

Where shame has caused me to cower in a corner, may I let go of it so I can walk with my head held high.

Where fear and doubts have eroded my self-worth, may I let go of them so I can trust not only myself again, but also others.

Where anger has burned bridges of relationships, may I let it go I can begin to rebuild them.

Where I have closed myself to the movement of the Holy Spirit in my life, may I be open, so that God may be at work within me, creating in me a “life renewed from the inside”.

This is the time of year to let go of all that has weighed us down in 2018, particularly those things that prevented us from living a life in love that God desires for us.

My favorite prayer this time of year is the Wesley Covenant prayer. The prayer is nearly 300 years old. Each time I pray it, I think of all those who came before me who uttered these same words, desiring only one thing, to live in right relationship with God:

“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

As you tuck away your 2018 calendar, and crack open your new 2019 one, may the empty blocks of days ignite your imagination with the creative and unexpected ways that you will encounter God and discern fuller ways to serve as a disciple of Christ, so that your life and this world may be infused with God’s grace and healing love.