There's always a sense of anticipation about the year ahead - the things we hope we can achieve in our fellowship, the continuing commitment to community involvement, and the personal issues that many of us will face, both joyful and challenging [babies, weddings, illness, funerals, employment, house-moves, etc]
But this New Year, more than any other in my life, I think, I feel despondent about the state of our nation. I've kept Brexit discussions out of my blogposts most of the time, there is so much that is negative about it all. A few weeks ago, the media were running articles about "How to avoid Brexit Arguments over the family Christmas lunch". I cannot remember such a painfully divisive issue before.
That makes me sad. But my word of the year is focus - that upon which I must keep my eyes. I found a very comforting verse about focus in Deuteronomy - if the United Kingdom is the land in which the Lord has put me, then I shall take these words to heart, focus on them, and trust God to sort things out.
We had a similar sort of message in the sermon at the Baptist church this morning. trusting in God in the present that he is with us and will be with us through the difficulties of Brexit. I've been feeling incredibly sad about it and yes, it has been difficult. Some members of my family voted differently from me and I have found it hard to talk about it, particularly as they spout all sorts of rhetoric they have heard but don't understand.
ReplyDeleteI hope it all works out well, eventually.
ReplyDelete