Happy New Year to each of you. I pray the year is full of blessings and joy for all. While everyone is different, many people look at the beginning of a new year as an opportunity to institute some kind of change. For some, resolutions are made and kept. For others, commitments with good intentions are made but follow through ultimately falters. We are human and life happens after all. Frankly, both kinds of experiences have been mine over the years. Some resolutions I have kept, others are distant memories.
As time has passed, however, I have come to view each day as a new beginning, a new opportunity, and fresh chance to go in another direction. I also believe that as God invites each of us to live right now in the moment, I encourage us to take on the view that every moment is ripe for change and transformation. We need not wait for a date on the calendar. Nor should a calender determine how we feel about ourselves and what we set out to accomplish.
In thinking about the year 2020, a thought came to mind. A few years ago while enduring some painful challenges, a friend shared an idea with me. At first it seemed a bit silly, but as I thought about it, the power of the idea grew on me. Sometimes simple ideas end up being quite helpful. Perhaps what follows is something you already do, perhaps not. But what my friend introduced me to is the idea of a “God Can.”
A “God Can” is a literal jar or can with a lid. Most people make their own. Attached to the can or jar is a label that states, “God Can.” Whenever we are confronted with something small or big, overwhelming or difficult, life impeding or painful, the simple idea is to write the issue down on a piece of paper and place it in the “God Can.” In other words, to visibly and tangibly turn whatever it is over to God along with a conviction that God will and can help.
There is just something about making the effort of writing whatever it is that is going on down and placing in God’s hands in a physical way. And sometimes having something we see can remind us of what we cannot see and prompt us to turn our lives over to the One for whom nothing is impossible.
So over this week of the New Year, I invite you to join me in taking stock of challenges and heartaches. To write those things down on pieces of paper. And to place those slips of paper into your own “God Can.” I’ll be dusting mine off. Over time, look back at what you wrote down and evaluate where things are and look to see the ways in which God was with you and worked through you.
This New Year, I pray we will take a moment, whether or not we create a “God Can”, to acknowledge and remind ourselves that no matter what, God can and will. And God can and will because we are all God’s beloved and treasured creation.
Happy New Year!!!
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