The new calendar lays open, a new year. Empty dates not yet filled with appointments, anniversaries, birthdays and holidays. Yet soon those blanks will be filled in with plans for the future. But James 4:13-14 reminds us: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (NASB).”
At the end of 2019, the 2020 calendar lay empty. Soon dates were filled in with plans and the year began much as the previous year started. Then the pandemic emerged and suddenly everything stopped. Stay at home orders went in place and all those plans were canceled. Life abruptly changed, seemingly in an instant. On New Year’s day in January 2020 we had no idea what was coming.
It is a stark reminder that as we make plans and organize our life, we do not have any control over our future. While it is good to make plans and to be intentional about taking care of things in our life, everyday we should recognize that God is the one in control. We can make our plans, but we should daily seek God’s will for our life. James 4:15 reminds us to recognize that: “Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
© 2020 CGThelen
Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually. – 1 Chronicles 16:10-11
140 Character Christian 
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Thanks for reading. Blessings.
Be Blessed throughout the coming year.
BT
Blessings to you this New Year!
Yes, CG, it is true – and I am ever so grateful: God is in charge. I adopt a resolution for the new year: “Embrace!” Embrace the future. Embrace change. Embrace each new day with expectation. Be open-armed… Let God in – and let Him have the wheel. Take a back seat. Release the old,, Discern the new that He has in store for us, and Embrace His plans. It IS going to be a better, more compassionate, healthier, saner year. I feel it already. Don’t you?
“Embrace” that’s a good word. Embrace what God places before us. May we look to the New Year with new hope. Blessings.
Yes, new hope – Keep it alive. Thank you… I will! ❤
I’ve commented (twice) on this post, CG. They both appeared, and then disappeared!
Hopefully they’re there now.
I commented, CG, but it has since disappeared.
I believe it’s there now. Thanks.
“We can make our plans, but we should daily seek God’s will for our life.” Amen! One of my favorite quotes for this time of year is from Henry Moore: “I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the year’s”
I appreciate your consistency, CG. You share a publishing schedule and stick with it, and your posts are bite-sized and straightforward. God’s best to you in 2021.
Like that quote from Henry Moore. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to you in the New Year. Thanks for reading.
Amen! May His will be done! God bless you!
May our desires be God’s desires. Blessings for the New Year.