God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever. Vance Havner

Meditation: Sometimes life leaves us raw and broken. It might be that our physical body is weakened, or our emotional or spiritual body is going through turmoil. I noticed that when I feel thin-skinned or when I feel broken, I develop more compassion toward others who go through times of brokenness. Though we feel at times that something in us is dying, often we are more broken open than we are being destroyed. Being broken open can sometimes mean receiving new strength or becoming able to give more of ourselves to others than ever before. Sometimes when we think we are dying, God is taking us to the next level. Sometimes after our body, mind or spirit shut down and say “enough”, we are experiencing the gift of new life. At the beginning of this New Year, let us embrace those times of brokenness as God preparing to do a new thing in our life.

Prayer: God, we pray for courage and a new perspective. Sometimes when we come to our “wit’s end”, it is just your beginning with us. When we think, life as we know is over, you take our endings and transform them in ways we could not imagine. We are amazed that our human brokenness is your opportunity. Speak to us in new ways and renew our body, mind and spirit within us. Amen

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer (wo)man is decaying, yet our inner (wo)man is being renewed day by day. 2. Corinthians 4:16

If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were. Richard Bach

Meditation: When we love somebody, we do not love them the same all the time. Sometimes we try to, but it does not work. Love changes over time, and sometimes love requires us to let the other person go and be free. Free from expectations, free from certain patterns and certain roles. If we allow those we love to have that space and freedom to choose to come back or to choose to leave, and we allow ourselves the same freedom, then love does not become a prison or a way of holding others hostage. Love allows for change, even if that means to painfully let the other person go. Sometimes the only way to preserve love is to set the other person free.

Prayer: Gracious God, your love is a love that models freedom. You do not force us to be in intimate relationship with You. You allow us times of going away from You. Times of not wanting You in our lives, times of doubts and times of rebellion against You. And at the end of the day, this is why we can come back to You. Your relationship with us transforms over the years. Help us to allow our human relationships to also be transformed. Help us to set each other free. Amen

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and of a sound mind.  2 Timothy 1:7

 

 

 

May I accept that dying is part of life.  

May I not hold on too tightly to the past, when the past needs to be set free.

May I listen to my inner truth and face those difficult existential questions, however anxious I might become in doing so.

May the Spirit of Love, of Strength and of Sound Mind carry me through this year.

May all the changes that this year will bring become an opportunity to sort through what is essential in my life.

May I listen to the Spirit of love and of healing.

May I not live my life too fast, too loud or too preoccupied to hear God’s calm and quiet advice.

May I not fear the politics at large, but trust the values that uphold my life. 

May I seek the long view and the broader sense of purpose and meaning.

May I live as part of a community to stay healthy and strong and avoid the traps of isolation and lack of support

May God gift me and us with wisdom and discernment this year.

 Amen

Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection. Arthur Schopenhauer

Meditation: My dear childhood friend died at the end of 2017. She was surrounded by family and friends. I did not know much other than that she was in intensive care. However, about two hours after she had died in Germany, I suddenly felt her presence. So I texted her and her family. I felt the need to reach out and be present with them. And that was exactly the time when in Germany her friends and family were saying good-bye to my friend. The Spirit works in amazing ways! Also a day later a close friend who I have known for 23 years here in the US emailed. She was in town with her family and wanted to see me and my family. We met for three hours in a restaurant. It was so healing to see each other. My daughters teased me that I had “a Bestie”. It felt like the universe took one of my beloved friends and then sent me another beloved to comfort me.

Prayer: God of death and God of resurrection, I pray for all who have lost a loved one in this past season. For all who mourn and feel deeply saddened. Be our comfort, be our strength, and send us your messengers of love and of hope of resurrection. Raise our weary hearts up to You. Hold us all, living and deceased, in Your care and in Your never ending love. Amen

Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 1. Corinthians 6:14

 

Make New Year’s goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you’re interested in fully living life in the year to come. Melody Beattie

Meditation: My daughter created a poster board yesterday displaying images and sayings that are encouraging her or that display certain goals she has for herself. She wrote playful and encouraging teenage sayings like these: “Breathe, it is just a bad day, not a bad life.” “So far you have survived 100% of your worst days. You are doing great…” And then there are images of people she admires or goals she has this year. I haven’t done that yet, though I will probably write some goals down instead of artistically displaying them. As I am formulating goals, I want to leave room for “life to happen when we have made other plans”. I also want to plan and set goals with the awareness that I will do my best to reach them, but certain outcomes are not in my hand. And so, three concrete goals I have for this year are: 1. To continue eating healthy and exercising. 2. Another is to sleep more hours every night. 3. And a third one is to daily enjoy time with my daughters as they are growing up quickly. These seem minor goals, but as I need to practice those every day of this year, they are major goals. What are your goals for 2018? Let’s be invested and interested in fully living life this year!

Prayer: God of new beginnings, we commit our New Year goals to you. If You have other goals for us than we have for ourselves, please, make those clear. Give us joy and strength to pursue the goals we are setting for ourselves. May they serve to increase health and love in our lives. Amen

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3

 

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something. Neil Gaiman

Meditation: A strange wish for the New Year, isn’t it? Wishing somebody that they would make mistakes. Usually we wish for the good stuff: happiness, prosperity, luck. But wishing for mistakes? Really? If we make mistakes, we are making a new thing, trying a new thing, learning, living and pushing ourselves…We are changing and we are changing our world. And that can’t happen without us making genuine mistakes. We are not talking about intentional mistakes, but about those mistakes that happen when we try something we have not done or tried before. Mistakes we make because our intention is to make things better, but we discover our intention and the outcome don’t match. Or mistakes that sometimes come with the anxiety of changing. If we make mistakes and are open to learning from them, we are learning and changing. We are actually being courageous. Genuine, unintended mistakes can be easily forgiven, as they are a byproduct from trying something new. And so we dare imperfection and dare making mistakes while being on our way. And as we are on our way, we keep our eyes on the goal of becoming more loving and more accepting of ourselves and of others, just like Jesus was.

Prayer: God of new beginnings, we ask You this first day of the New Year for courage. For courage to make mistakes, to admit mistakes and to forgive mistakes. We ask You also for the humility to know that we haven’t figured out yet what Your love in our life really means, and for the patience with ourselves and others as we all keep trying to become more like You. Bless us, and bless this New Year. Amen

I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. Philippians 3:12-14

And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been . Rainer Maria Rilke

Meditation: Many think that God never changes. And that theological statement has valid truth in it. Others believe that God walks alongside us. Those probably prefer God as we have witnessed in his son Jesus. And then some believe that God is coming toward us from the future. When I heard this sentence for the first time from the mouth of my professor Juergen Moltmann, I was stunt. I had only thought of God as the One reaching out to us from the past, from the Old Testament and the Jewish tradition. I had known God in Jesus as the One accompanying us on our journeys in the past and in the here and now. But I had never heard that God could come toward us from the future. This image seems to be connected to God as working in the world as the Holy Spirit, and it feels deeply comforting to me. This statement  somehow completed the circle of how I can imagine God’s all-encompassing presence. And so, today, we welcome the New Year and we welcome God reaching out to us from the future. We eagerly await the nurturing Spirit of God who promises to create our life full of things that have never been before.

Prayer: God, circle of life, at the end of this year, You are reaching out to us from the future to give to us freely from the spring of the water of life. You want to replenish us, refresh us, strengthen us for what lies ahead. As we enter this New Year, we humbly ask for Your Grace and presence with us as we know You from ages past. We ask for Your present love as we have witnessed it in our Brother Jesus, the Christ. And we ask for Your nurturing and creative Spirit as we enter the threshold of the future. You are our ending and our beginning. And we are grateful! Amen

And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.” Revelation 21:6

All of us every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all our lives. Steven Spielberg

Meditation: If it is true that we are changing some each year, how have you and I changed this past year? Have we grown and thrived, or has it been a rough year where we either struggled or felt stagnant? I am a different person at the end of this year than I was at the beginning of this year. I have had experiences that changed me. Some made me a better person, others I am still wrestling with or don’t know what to do with. God’s Spirit is an energy that wants to help us integrate all of what happened into who we are and who we are becoming. Even the “bad” or “sad” stuff. Let’s take time in these days between the years to look back at how we have changed due to the experiences we have had. Let’s make this year count. Let’s not forget important events that still want to change us and open up new things and a new way of being.

Prayer: God, let me be still for some time and help me remember all that happened this year. The good and the bad. And then, please, help me find my way with and through my experiences. Who do You want me to become? How can what happened shape me more and more into the person I truly am and who I can be? Thank You for this past year. And thank You for the chance of another year ahead. Amen

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come. Robert H. Schuller

Meditation: The time in between the years often calls for reflection and possibly for new decision making. However, sometimes the year ends, but we are not ready yet to make new decisions and sometimes not even a New Year’s resolution. Often instead of deciding according to a time table, it is helpful to wait until everything aligns in us, so we know deep inside where to go and what to do. Body, mind and spirit need to be able to align for us to be able to make good and life giving decisions. And in all this, it is a relief to know that God promises to guide us as we wait for his counsel. We can imagine God looking at us with loving eyes and wanting what is best for us. Let us wait, especially when we are in a bad place right now. Let us wait, if we are confused or overwhelmed. Let us wait if we are angry or depressed. Let us wait for the spring of clarity to come, especially for those important life decisions.

Prayer: Loving God, as we are coming close to the end of this year, make us aware of important life decisions that will need to be made. However, give us wisdom and patience to not rush things. Help us be patient. Help us get in tune with You and Your good will for our life. Lead us out of our dark and cold places before we decide what we are going to do. Let Your light shine on us, so we will know where to go and what to do. Amen

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Psalm 32:8

When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing – just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park? Ralph Marston

Meditation: The time “in between the years” is one of my favorite times. Somehow my usual pace of life is slowing down. This year I have done things thus far that I usually don’t have the time to do: I have slept. I have rested. I just sat and did nothing. And then I actually enjoyed myself by playing a computer game. It felt so good not having to anticipate the next thing I have to do. Instead, I have been able to spend quiet moments just doing nothing. What a luxury! I am able to rest my brain. I have thought about people I miss and parts of my life that I usually don’t have leisure to think about. Being quiet, resting and sleeping is the most healing thing I can do. I actually have gotten rid of a persistent cough that I have had for weeks, just by sleeping on Christmas day for six hours during the day followed by two full eight hour nights of sleep. I wonder why I waited until the end of the year to give myself permission to just be and do nothing? I now want to take this experience of this week with me into the New Year and remember weekly or even daily how healing it is to be still.

Prayer: God of healing, thank You for these days of rest. I am grateful for the luxury of being still and for the healing of my body and my soul. I am not feeling rushed. I actually feel rested. I nearly forgot how well I feel when I sleep enough and am not stressed. God, remind me and help me to take time this New Year for being still, for extra rest and for extra sleep. Amen

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10