🙌It's the Friday Call to Worship!🙌
It's 2026! Some are working out new year's resolutions, while others are still shaking the dust off of 2025. I tuned in (a week late, as usual) to a raw WhatsApp conversation about the new year in my neurodivergent parent support group. Weary parents disclosed visceral reactions to the social standard of dreaming big for the year ahead or even celebrating it as they stagger across the finish line of 2025. They found solace in relatable stories and sentiments, and then resolved together to take one day at a time. I was too late to join the conversation, but I related deeply as I read it.
There is much planning, marketing, hoping and dreaming leading up to a new year. It FEELS like it should be significant... like it should mean something or define something. But I don't find direction on what to do every 365 days when I look to the Word. Instead, I read the prophet Jeremiah's words," The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Good news: We don't have to wait for the new year, a circumstance shift, or anything else for limitless love to make US new. Ducks don't have to be in rows. Futures and finances don't have to be ironed out. Kids don't have to have table manners or meet developmental milestones. Jeremiah proclaimed God's continual goodness in the midst of profound national suffering. He acknowledged God's continuous goodness in the middle of an unfathomable mess and proclaimed that every day, not every year, is a fresh start for us.
Jeremiah goes on to unlock the secret of hoping in hardship, "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him." (Lamentations 3:24) He resolved to trust God to be everything every day. Jeremiah didn't claim hope in things getting better. He trained his soul to seek satisfaction in the Lord's unfailing love, even from the bottom of the pit.
There is so much for our soul to give thanks for today. Listen to Brandon Lake's "Nothing New".