On this last day of the year, before the calendar page turns, I receive an invitation from God :

To be still. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10, NKJV).

To stop striving. “Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth” (Psalm 46:10, NASB).

To be still and to stop striving, to know that God is GOD, and life is all about HIS GLORY, and He will be glorified throughout the entire earth.

To know that God is GOOD in all of His works and trustworthy in all of His ways.

To know that He does not withhold good from me (Psalm 84:11), so where He has me now is good. I can trust Him here.

To know that He has not wasted time nor tears. What has been sown in tears will reap in joy (Psalm 126:5).

On this new year’s eve, God is inviting us all into a time of silence so that we may hear.

He is inviting us to tuck away into the shadows for a second so that we may see . . .

to hear and to see what we are unable to when we run the race and pace that we usually do.

God is inviting us to see His glory all around us which leads to being embraced by His joy all around us – all in us and through us.

God is inviting us to let the beauty and reality of Christmas, of what we perhaps celebrated in a rush last week, to sink deeply into our hearts and minds.

“And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great JOY that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

“….He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the GLORY of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power…” (Hebrews 1:2-3a).

Before we begin a new year, I believe what we need to know more than anything else is that there is One King on the throne, and the cosmos declares His glory.

Dare we turn our heads from it or ignore it or close our eyes to it in the rush of the world’s wake.

We are to be pitied when we put ourselves at the center, thinking the world is so small that it is all about us. But we all do it.

We rob ourselves of joy when we attempt – consciously or not – to steal God’s glory.

When we crave self-glory, we are actually starving ourselves of true joy.

God commands us to glorify Him because He invites us to joy.

GOD’S GLORY, OUR JOY.

Today, God is inviting you and me to pause the noise and to hear the Truth.

He extends the invitation to come away from the world’s street lights and to see the Light of the world, the radiance of “the bright and morning star” (Revelation 22:16) against the dark backdrop of night.

When we see and hear clearly, we behold GOD and His glory, the fuel of our joy and the foundation of our peace. Knowing that God is good and trustworthy, that He is center of all things and completely in control, is the reality we need to remind ourselves of as we turn the page on this year. We need to know that we are in His hands, and therefore, we have nothing to fear.

May we look over our shoulder of this past year and learn, as we look forward to the year ahead and yearn for the One who holds it.

Even if – at the very onset of 2025 – all of my plans implode or my ideas and expectations crumble, it’s okay . . . because it’s not about me anyway, and there is unspeakable JOY AND PEACE when I surrender my life to God’s plan that is so much bigger and better. Oh, the pressure that is lifted and the peace that is infused when I cease striving from trying to prove myself or explain myself or to make a name for myself. There is such PEACE when we “aspire to live quietly, and to mind our own affairs and to work with our hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11, ESV), all the while “whatever we do in word or deed, doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17, NKJV).

So, what if? What if the year ahead were actually our last to live?

Oh, forbid it be filled with things that we would wish it wasn’t if, indeed, it were.

And if it’s not our last, having this mindset will help us to live it well.

May the gift of a new year of life and breath be lived as one continuous prayer, one continuous thankful song of praise, one continuous offering of a life so grateful to be rescued out of darkness that it lends to a perpetual posture of humility and a happy, quiet, obedient heart, giddy for the present reality and the eternal grace granted to keep company with our Lord Jesus Christ until we see Him face to face.