It’s here! The day is here!
Something which I least expected to bother me is now troubling me like anything. Ah! How I wish I could make time freeze. How I wish I could make the Sun and the Moon stand still like how Joshua did. But I can’t. I can’t escape this day. I can’t escape turning 30!
There is an episode from the popular sitcom FRIENDS in which they show how the lead casts dread turning 30. When I watched it years ago I was like, “Huh, what’s the big deal about turning 30”. But now, with just hours left for me to turn 30, I began to freak out too!
I paused for a moment to make sense of why I feared facing 30. All my shortcomings, my inabilities, my past mistakes started to surface and it felt as if they were jeering at me. Those voices inside my head were so loud, powerful and intimidating!
Trying to put all those voices away, I sat down to have my quiet time. The Bible passage for the day was from Ephesians 1: 3 -6 with emphasis on the 4th verse, “Even before He made us, God loved us and chose us“. In the devotion that followed by Winn Collier, he wrote, “There’s never been a moment of your life where you haven’t been the object of God’s love!”
That really got me thinking. So what if I haven’t really achieved anything? What if I have messed up the years that have gone by? What if I don’t have what a 30-year-old is supposed to have? God has always loved me and will continue to love me. He has been so faithful in my life till now. He has been my Provider and my Protector. He has never left my side even for a moment! The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. This is a good enough reason for me to boldly step into this new year. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!
Yes, those voices may come back to torment me again. But instead I choose to listen to my Heavenly Father’s voice which says, ‘He loves me with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3)’ and that ‘He has engraved me in the palm of His hands (Isaiah 49:16)’!
The baggage of my past may try to weigh me down. But I choose to cast them at the feet of Jesus and exchange if for the peace that passes all understanding (Psalm 55:22, Matthew 11:28, Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7) . I choose to fix my eyes upon Jesus and run the race that is set before me with His strength (Hebrews 12:1-2).
