Only A Milestone

2013       Typhoon hit the Philippines. Pope Benedict XVI resigned. Calgary flooded just before the Stampede. Boston Marathon bombings. Obama was re-elected. Brutal mall attack in Kenya. Huge tornado in Oklahoma. US Government Shutdown. iPhone 5S and 5C. Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. Blackberry went down the drain. The royal baby, Prince George, was born. I started a blog.

There's been approximately 139,000,000 births, and 58,000,000 deaths. Despite all the suicides, murders, and natural disasters, the world population grew by approximately 82,000,000.

So here we are, just hours away from a metaphorically clean slate. Looking back, people are seeing the depths of despond that they thought they would never get through, but here they are. Some are now gone that, if they had been helped, would have been doing that very same thing.

It has been a mere 365 days, and look at all that has been accomplished. Look at all that has been destroyed. Look at how much more you know now. Evaluate the success of your 2013 New Year's Resolutions.

Milestones have been reached. I will reach mine in seven hours. My sixteenth birthday.

But what is a milestone? Isn't it simply the imaginary summit we make for ourselves? Or rather, it is the imaginary checkpoints we place along the path of life, and we assume that only after achieving them all will we finish the race well. We don't take into account that the accomplishing of some of those milestones may lead us off the path God intended.

New Year's Day is an annual internationally recognized milestone... but it's only a day. We celebrate the changing of a single digit. We are going from a 3 to a 4. A milestone? Who knows what 2014 will have in store for us? Who knows if we will even live through it? Who knows whether the world will last until this time next year? Who knows how many more births, deaths, bombings, inventions, wins, and losses will occur during the next 365 days? Just God.

Those of us who remain have been granted another 'milestone.' We are calling it 2014. The history of the Bible has now been pushed back yet another year, and the belief in that history will be pushed further back as well, if it is not defended.

Many people saw their previous New Year's Resolutions fail. That's where depression reaches a peak. People think "Well, it's too late to try now- I'll wait until next year." Forgetting that the imaginary milestone they label as "Next Year" might not be on God's timeline.

Starting at midnight, the clock begins ticking. For this next trip around the sun, we will all be given 525,949 minutes at our disposal. Of course- God isn't subject to the physics of this solar system that He created.

There are lives that are expected to see 2015, who won't even live til midnight tonight. There are lives that are dangerously close to being self-extinguished, that are needing the Power of God to bring them out of the darkness, so that they can live to see their entire life of God's intended length for them.

There are souls being lost, but there are so many more waiting to be saved!

This is the purpose for which I am, Lord-willing, entering into 2014. This is my resolution.

God, I'm giving this year to You.

Proverbs 16:3 ~

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, 

and your plans will succeed.

Proverbs 19:21 ~

Many are the plans in a man's heart, 

but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.

Priorities.

See, I'm kind of determined to reach 42 blog posts before this year is out. 42 just seems like a rather... iconic number. Seeing as I will need two more including this one, and I have one more day... aw, shucks. Why not?

Today I went shopping with the gift card that I was given for Christmas. The stores were crowded, but it wasn't exactly Boxing Day Ballistic. Nonetheless, just as every other time I go shopping, I was filled with... frustration. I feel embarrassed, and annoyed with myself, and everyone around me.

I almost try to hide the things I am purchasing, because I am embarrassed to have the money to purchase them. I know we are so rich here in Canada. Even those who think they are poor on a First-World Country's standard are kings compared to the billions of people in the world that will never see more money in their lives than we see in a day.

I've been especially self-conscious of every spoiled word and phrase and action I see around me, or those I make. "Can I have seconds?" "That's not fair... I already did more than my share of chores today." Big deal. We are so wimpy! We are so ungrateful. Every prayer we murmur contains a "Thank you," or two, or even an acknowledgment of our "many blessings," but we don't really realize it. Sometimes I wonder if all these... things, are really a blessing at all.

Consumerism. Wants are disguised as needs, which leads to debt, depression, and destruction. Why are the richest countries in the world also the saddest? We have some of the largest percentages of suicides. This is where our greediness has brought us, and we fail to attribute our issues to our incurable disease called WANT.

At every checkout counter, there are dozens of scandalous magazines shooting out headlines. The thing I notice most... they're all the same. There's nothing new. Nothing original. "30 New Fat-Burning Excercises!" "Greatest Health Recipies!" "Life Hacks 101!" It's been that way for years, why are we still so gullible? People continue to purchase these magazines with these claims, even though these are the exact same claims magazines have been making for years. Nothing exciting. If it didn't work before, why do people still fall into the trap and try again and again? Can't they see that it isn't making them happy?

There is the problem. Happiness. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." It's a well-known phrase, but is more often than not, gone about all the wrong way. People are always pursuing happiness. People are almost always pursuing happiness in the completely wrong places, unfortunately.

Don't forget that Christian fall into that same trap as well. I was reminded of that today. To humans, God is not a tangible, visible thing that we can grasp. That is one of the reasons that many refuse to believe. Their belief is that if you cannot see, hear, feel, taste, or smell something... it doesn't exist.

I fail so often to remember that God is more than enough for me. I lie to myself and think I 'need' all these new products or clothing items or electronics... but I don't need any of it. Only God can ever satisfy. Trying to fill emptiness with anything of the world is so pointless- it only makes the gaping gap bigger. There is only one way it can be filled, and that is Jesus.

I sometimes wonder if it pains God when we want worldly things so badly. We pray, "God, please give me that car. That phone. That relationship. That house. That pet." I can just imagine Him wanting to shake us and bring us to our senses! A car may be of great value to us, but to a God who created and owns everything, and has never had a beginning and will never have an end... it's lower than dust.

Matthew 6:19-21~

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

We may plead, "Please Lord, help me earn the money to buy that car!" I can just picture Him telling us, "Yes, I could give you that car. But I am wanting to give you so much more! I just wish you would ask for joy. I wish you would ask for peace. I can give you patience. I love to give good gifts to you, my child, but you keep asking for worthless trinkets. That car will fade away like grass. But these things I can give to you, a relationship with Myself, will never fade away."

We know these truths, but we continuously forget. We constantly put a relationship with God at the bottom of the list, and those top slots change as often as the wind. It's proof of how fickle we are.

A lot of people want a stable life. Imagine how solid one's life could be if God occupied that #1 spot. If everything else on that list, everything that was desirable, reflected what God would have them desire. Everything they desire would be for good, it would all be according to God's plan.

We do have that opportunity- each one of us! When we put God first and give Him the role of Lord in our lives, He will lead us down the right path.

It may be a little late to make a new Christmas list, but what about a New Year's Resolution?

Matthew 6:33~

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; 

and all these things shall be added unto you.