Happy 'ordinary' new year!

I do always love the New Year. Given that I’m naturally a glass half full kind of guy I always enjoy the blank-page sense of anticipation that this time of year brings.

For many of us the year ahead will be full of as yet unknown adventures. For others it will be tinged with unexpected sorrows. But here’s another possibility. It may well be full of… well, the same old. Same classmates. Same school run. Same commute to work. Same relational difficulties. Same bills. Same health complications. Same daily routine.

This year may well look remarkably similar to last and each day similar to the next. A chronological game of snap. There’s a good chance that everything about the year ahead will be… well, ordinary.

Monotony

I was part of a conversation recently about why so many of my generation who were seemingly on fire for the Lord in their 20s have all but "fizzled out" by their 40s. Now, pastorally speaking, there may well be many complicated and painful reasons that have contributed to that. There may also be big questions about life and faith that linger unanswered. But in my experience it’s often the inner angst that comes when life just feels a bit mundane. It’s not deconstruction per se - it’s just the staleness that creeps in as we journey through the monotony of life.

Our culture is allergic to monotony. Every TV programme is filled with adventure. Every song on the radio is filled with passion. Our lives can often feel like the exact opposite. Like we are the lead actor in the most tedious TV drama ever to be aired. Netflix will not be making a Season Two, that’s for sure. All of this can leave us wondering (even if we don’t articulate it) that this can’t have been what Jesus meant when he spoke about giving "life to the full," can it?

'Life to the full'

I’ve been reflecting on Paul’s words in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians in recent weeks; these new believers living their lives in the city where Paul preached the gospel and was driven out after just three Sabbaths. "We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

In my younger years as a believer my eyes devotionally drifted towards the famous Pauline triad of faith, hope and love. Now that I’m a few more years down the track my eyes focus on the work, labour, and particularly endurance. It’s funny how different Biblical words draw our hearts' gaze in different seasons of life. The act of faithfully and joyfully plodding on. Hope fuelled faith that goes the distance.

Does each day kind of feel the same to me? Yes it does. But what if in these daily rhythms of life the Lord has profound lessons to teach us? What if he has us exactly where he wants us in order to show us the exact things he wants to show us concerning the sufficiency of His Son for our souls? What if life is truly to be found in embracing the God of the ordinary.

And so here are four daily resolutions I’m prayerfully seeking to carry into my ordinary-looking life throughout the year ahead.

1. Sow to the Spirit. Sowing the Word of God into my own soul. Sowing the Word into the lives of my children. Sowing the Word into the lives of our church family. One of the lessons baked into the metaphor of sowing and reaping is the accompanying wait. We might see the results today. We might see them in the years to come. It might be another generation and another group of people that reaps what we’ve sowed. But every day is a sowing day.
2. Kill the distractions. We need to be honest about how much time we spend faffing. Social media is a chronological and cognitive thief; social media platforms are breeding grounds for discontentment and dissatisfaction. Let’s take the apps off of our phones. Let’s set limits on our consumption. Let’s redeem the commute time with something that’s going to stimulate our senses for the glory of God. Online time can too easily bog us down in the swamp of triviality when our souls are designed to run on the sweet nectar of considering eternal things.
3. Enjoy His goodness. I’ve been making it a prayer in recent weeks that the Lord would expand my appreciation for the plethora of daily mercies that He shows me. Time with my wife and children. A hearty laugh with friends. An enjoyable glass of wine. A moving piece of classical music. A good workout. A walk taking in the beauty of nature. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, all good things in this life are like rays of light that we need to trace back to the splendour of the sun.
4. Prioritise my church. The more I go on in life, I realise I need my church family not less but more. I need my older brothers and sisters to show me that Jesus is worth following for the next 40 years of my life. I need to hear testimonies of how God has been at work in people’s lives. I need to hear the voices of the saints singing. I need to hear the Word of God preached. I need the simple bread and the cup to speak profound spiritual realities to my soul. There’s a reason they are called the ordinary means of grace after all.

In the words of hymn writer Timothy Dudley-Smith:
Here on the threshold of a new beginning,
by grace forgiven, now we leave behind
our long-repented selfishness and sinning,
and all our blessings call again to mind:
Christ to redeem us, ransom and restore us,
the love that holds us in a Saviour's care,
faith strong to welcome all that lies before us,
our unknown future, knowing God is there.