Happy New Year! If you are like me, you were grateful that these past Christmas and New Year’s celebrations were more of a return to normal than the previous two years allowed. You were also grateful to be returning to in-person learning and not starting a calendar year in remote learning for the first time in three years! Recently, I’ve had the worship song, “Jesus, All for Jesus” by Robin Mark on my mind, especially the lines: “All of my ambitions, hopes, and plans, I surrender these into your hands.” Given all the twists and turns we’ve had in recent times, and the remaining uncertainties regarding what lies ahead, our ambitions, hopes, and plans are best put in God’s hands as we know that He alone holds the future. Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) says, “In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” These words make clear that while we most often seek to control our lives, our circumstances, where we go and what we accomplish, it is in fact God who will direct our lives – especially if we submit to His will. As the past days as well as the past years have clearly revealed, we have a very limited view of the future and even at the best of times we cannot control our lives or all that will happen to us. So instead of leaving God and His will behind and wandering off to find our own way, we should commit ourselves to following the beautiful words of Proverbs 3 (NIV):
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
