Here's to an Imperfect 2024

I really do apologize. I need to grow up.  And being in my very late 60s, you probably better not hold your breath, as I don't feel very hopeful about it.

But please do continue to tell me to grow up, because it may help...though it probably won't.

And I often wonder who began these traditions of increasing the never-ending pressure on ourselves at the year-ending? Why do we start every new year, with promises to strive more .... more scripture reading, extra time praying, participating in a couple of house groups and fellowship, or extra time spent in personal worship? Etc.

Please do not misunderstand me! Of course all of these spiritual practices are necessary for growing in our personal relationship with God, our Creator and our Father. But the key lies in the relationship, and not merely in the accumulating of more knowledge and biblical truths 'about' Him; though this too is necessary.

Let me bring you these words of wisdom from one of my favourite modern-day contemplatives, Thomas Merton; "Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn't already been said better, by the wind rustling through the trees."

Knowing God has always been about being still, simply resting with and in him, (no other learning activity except rest!) and 'knowing' that He is God. Pause for a moment and think about it... how many of us have got to know our parents better by reading a book they have written about themselves? It's always been about experiencing them through time spent with them. Chilling together!

Yesterday as I partook of our favourite bun-butter (mhaska) and chai tea with  friends I was meeting after years, one of them shared a COVID story many of us are all to familiar with... ICU, a loved one struggling to breathe, oxygen levels dropping, the dread of the ventilator. He tried everything, including threatening to sue the hospital, which was already doing the best possible.

Finally, he was reminded of 'be still and let God' do His part. When my friend ceased his frantic efforts that night, became still and asked God to be God in this situation, God moved in. From the very next day (their wedding anniversary) his wife started responding and was out of hospital in 6 days.

So I say, let the end of this 2023 be filled with self-congratulations, for all we  survived (I'm almost 70). Let 2024 start with a promise to be kinder to ourselves, to understand better just how much we bear as humans on this exhausting treadmill of a world that seems to be 'going south', and quickly too.

And since we are expected to make more resolutions, let’s resolve to rest, before our bodies force us to. Let’s pledge to stop, and sip on this cup of life as it happens to us. Personally, I pledge to strip away these facades of perfection expected of me, to reveal the flawed and wondrous human that I truly am inside. And if you cannot see God working in, and shaping me, yours is the loss.

Thomas à Kempis' description of this God-process wondrously haunts me almost daily, "Knowing God truly, lies in one's increasing awareness of personal sin." (Aquinas penned this a few centuries ago when calling sin 'sin' was completely acceptable, so I'm being cowardly when I say 'imperfections'.)

Why start another year, gifted to us on this earth, making demands on our already overburdened human selves,  when we can really rest and be still in the knowledge that we will always be imperfect this side of eternity? Surely this is as crucial to knowing our perfect Father, as our heartbeat is to life? Herein lies the true beauty of our imperfect lives, that in the growing acceptance of our own imperfections, we find rest in, and know our perfect Father. And in finding that beauty, we can also find true peace.

So throughout 2024, may you increasingly hear the wind blowing through the trees, whisper His holy name. May you recognize the heights of God's unlimited love for you, every time you stand on a mountain ridge.  May you experience his unfathomable love for you, as you sail across the deep seas. May the breadth of His grace amaze you, each time you cross the Mekong (or whichever). May His perfection inspire you to rest and be still, when imperfections in self, family and friends rocks your relationships boat.

I wish you true peace in increasing measure, all through the year 2024. Everything else, is all just a part of it.

Let it be so. Amen.

Raju