Hello 2020!

January 2022

It is true that every conversation begins with a greeting!

It might be Hello, Hi, G’day or your own particular favorite opener.

January is the opening greeting to a new decade. I recall being in a conference in the early 2000’s and the focus was on setting goals for 2020. To me it was like flinging darts at a dart board while wearing a blind fold. The alliterative 2020 carried its own elusive mystery.

And here we are on the verge, the very doorstep of that mysterious year. It is so important that we all engage in the conversation from the very beginning. Introduce yourself. Share your hopes and dreams and fears with this compendium of time. Declare the secret desires of your heart. Put it out there. If you are brave you might even select the month of this exciting year on which to hang your dream.

Before you succumb to the overwhelm and pull the bedclothes over your head let me remind you that you don’t walk into this year on your own. God sent his own Holy Spirit to walk it with you. He is also known as the Comforter, Guide, Teacher, and ever present representative of the whole Godhead.

The beginning of each New Year requires the customary new resolutions that everyone knows will be overlooked or forgotten by the end of January. Yet somehow the beginning of a new decade compels a more diligent review.

Right now is the time to grab a coffee or favorite tea and find your journal and your favorite nook and open yourself to those dreams within. Those God given dreams are beacons directing you to your purpose in life. When God created you he gifted you with unique skills, capacities and mindset that will open the door to the person He saw at the beginning of time. As you consider the next twelve months and the nine years that follow, listen to that still small voice inside that is the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding you.

As you set your course remember these important facts.

1. You are made in the image of God and as the author of your faith and designer of your being He is ready to share His best ideas and hopes and directions with you to bring you hope and peace.

2. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to verses or passages of God’s Word that will be strategic in your life this year. Matthew 7:7 instructs us to “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” James 1:5 in the Amplified translation declares

“If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.” James goes on to say that we must be confident that God will direct us and if we are doubtful or hesitant then we will not find what we are looking for. Decide to be resolute in your decisions and actions this year.

3. Open your eyes and ears to your community of family and friends to identify conversations you can contribute to or questions you can answer or needs you can satisfy. Be a giver of life and love this year. Let your light of love and interest and care light your path and you will be surprised how far your life can penetrate with God’s love and life.

David and Cherie Rodway