A Healthy New Year's Resolution in 8 Words, 1 Simple Phrase

The new year is here.  It seems, as I look around social media these last few days, that 2017 was a year that a good number of people were glad to see end.

So what about 2018?  How will it be different?
One reality is certain: there are plenty of situations that will come to pass in the year 2018 that you and I will have little to no control over.  I am starting 2018 with one of those right now.  And I am sure there will be many more for me, and for you the reader as well.

But while we can't control everything in the next 365 days, there are some things we can control, and so to help you make a healthy and helpful New Year's Resolution, I'd like to offer these 8 words:

It did not have to be this way.

Those 8 words have worked there way into my vocabulary over the last year.  I honestly don't know where they came from, but again and again, I am finding myself saying them, and because of them a heart of gratitude has grown in me.  Thank you for that gift, God.

What do I mean by these words?  I mean to say that the grace of God is shown to us in a myriad of ways in each and every day, and yet we sometime take these gifts for granted.

Consider these examples:

I took this photo a little over a week ago as I headed into work one Sunday morning.  We have probably all seen beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the years.  But now apply those eight words I mentioned above and consider that God was under no obligation to make the sunrise ever look like this.  There was nothing forcing Him to make it awe-inspiring, and yet He did.  And so we can be thankful that even though it did not have to be this way, it is this way.

Each year, literally tens of thousands of people travel to New Hampshire (my home state) to see the leaves change.  But it did not have to be this way.  As you look at the photo above, let us all realize that the leaves could transform from green to brown in an instant and then fall from the trees, dead.  But many do not - many of them transform from green to orange or gold or red or a mix of all these colors.  What a gift.  It did not have to be this way, but it is this way.

Have you ever considered laughter?  Why do we laugh?  Not so much how does it physically occur, but why does it even happen at all?  What a gift that when we find something humorous we can laugh, and laugh with others, and sometimes laugh so hard we even cry.
It did not have to be this way,  but it is this way.

And the list goes on and on.
Beauty in nature, beauty in the storms, family - all of these blessings are too easily taken for granted, and so we should recall again and again that there was nothing that obligated God to make the world wonderful.  But He did.  It did not have to be this way, but it is this way.

Realizing these daily gifts, these gifts of common grace - this will stir our hearts to affection and thankfulness (a concept found all over the Bible - see here).

If we can ask God to open our eyes to see His grace and goodness all around, our heart and lives will be changed.  "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessolonians 5:18

May God cultivate in us a sense of wonder for all the good gifts He has given to us.

It did not have to be this way, but it is this way.  

And for this we are thankful.

- tC

What IF...There Is More To Life Than Just THIS?

As we dive into our What IF series, I want to start us off with a question that you can't answer...but you can.

What I mean is this.

There are some questions in life that you can answer with precision.  

When you measure the size of a marble with a micrometer caliper, you gain precision.  

You can tell me, "This marble is _______ millimeters."  

When you look at your watch you can tell me what time is, often to the very second.

But in many areas of life - often the most profound areas - we lack the ability to give answers that are verifiable in this fashion.  The big questions of life and death and morality - the answers to these questions are arrived at in a different way.  

Let me note here that this does not mean there is no science or mathematical analysis when it comes to big life questions.  There most certainly is.  When we ask about the creation of the universe, the scientist is not left at the door of the discussion.  There ARE elements of science and research that can help us answer these questions.  But science and research ALONE cannot give us answers to the most profound questions that we all ask at some point in life.

Here is my question: What if there is more to life than just this?

More than what we perceive with our 5 senses.

More than just the physical and natural world.

More than just blood and flesh and soil.

Aren't there situations where you say to yourself, "Because of this experience, I just know that there's got to be more to life than just living as an animal and then dying."

Here's one of the reasons I'd argue I know there is more...

This is my son Hudson. 

He is not an apologetic for the existence of God in the same way that reading the Cosmological Argument is, but he is none the less an apologetic for something grand.  How is it that from his birth on - though he can do nothing for me as far as making my life physically easier by mowing the lawn or bringing money into the family bank account - despite all of his limitations as a three year-old, I would give my life for him in an instant.  His life makes me look and say, "The way I feel toward him - this tells me that there is something profound and literally awesome to life."

Perhaps you don't have children.

What about experiencing images like these?

  

Doesn't nature speak to you in some way?  

Perhaps you aren't an 'outdoors person' like I am.  Fair enough.  But haven't you had some moment in life when you were struck with wonder at the grandness of life and/or nature?  

Perhaps it was art.  

Perhaps it was a poem you read. 

Haven't you had an experience in life that screamed into your soul, "You are alive!"  

What is that about?  

What IF that is something that is hard-wired into you - an understanding of the profound nature of existence itself.  

Does this make you a devout religious person?  Not necessarily.  Even Neil deGrasse Tyson, the American astrophysicist and agnostic, is amazed by the wonder of the stars at night.  

At this point, we aren't asking anything about agnosticism.

We are just asking What IF there is more to life that just the ho-hom, day-to-day existence that leads us from birth to death with nothing wondrous and profound.  

If you have experienced wonder - in any form - a grasping that yes, you exist - well then you and I are kindred spirits.

- tC