New Year Resolutions!

 Greetings for 
New Years 2014!

Remember to add the Wheat

I heard an engineer talk about how some cultures add wheat to their mortar for buildings.  It adds flexibility so that it does not crumble from most earthquakes and after-shocks. Not a bad ingredient for all New Year’s resolutions.  The living of our years goes through constant shocks—those slings and arrows of outrageous fortune—and flexibility can help us cope without crumbling.  In my opinion, I think the New Year bodes much uncertainty from the rollout of a new healthcare system, redefining the use of the NSA, and talks with Iran. 

Our resolutions as Christians are far more than trying harder to do something in a new way.  May our New Year resolutions remember the importance of wheat in the New Testament.  More than just a staple, wheat symbolized God’s harvest and Kingdom.  The element of flexibility, cited by the foregoing engineer, is the gift of grace.  Standing alone against the shocks of life, we eventually crumble. Upheld by grace, the assurance of God’s acceptance and love, the chaff crumbles, but the wheat remains.  (Matthew 13:24ff)

Roman God Janus

The month of January was always depicted from the Roman two-headed god Janus.  One face looked to the past for hope before the winter came.  The other face looked toward the spring for new life.  In the midst of winter, let us resolve to make the living God the foundation for building new life—now—without waiting for the spring to come.  And, remember the wheat!