Calendar

“There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven:” (Ecc 3:1)

Everyone this year is looking forward to turning the calendar over to 2021. If you are a bona fide 2020 survivor, you’ve earned it. I am surprised that 2020 has been a blessing to us and our family. Thankfully, we’ve not lost any of our loved ones this year. We’ve both been gainfully employed. Thankfully, despite some job changes, we’ve both been able to improve our situations, and even our son while being furloughed, was able to get a better job than he had before. My oldest daughter even starting working and making some money for herself. I’ve started into a new volunteer position with a local church with the possibility of coming onboard as staff in the near future. 2020 has been an answer to all kinds of prayers for us. I did not expect that.

I suppose I should have. God is a prayer-answering God. But I never would have imagined, had you told me, of the kinds of changes we would be looking at in 2020. The global lock-down is unprecedented. Never have all (most) of the countries of the world agreed to shut themselves down. There have been few winners and many who lost. And yet here we are. Perhaps I’m being premature, 2020 is not yet over as of this writing.

But changing the calendar to 2021 will change none of this. Tomorrow, we will still have COVID. we will not yet know who the next president is. There are still lockdowns in place. In fact, we will still be the same people as we are today, resolutions notwithstanding. Why, because you will still be you. Your heart will remain unchanged. While the calendar changes, you will remain. And the same problems you are dealing with today will follow you into the next year.

Ecclesiastes reminds us in its third chapter that there is a time for everything, and for everything there is (and will be) a time. All of those times can be recorded on a calendar, a chart we have made for ourselves to mark time. We mark days, weeks, months, seasons and years. We celebrate days of birth and special, sacred days to us. We remember days of death and ending. The calendar illustrates when the time was and will be for everything. And for everything there will be a date.

“One person considers one day to be above another day. Someone else considers every day to be the same. Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Rom 14:5)

Paul reminds us in his passage in Romans about judging one another (specifically the judgment between Jews who observe holy days and Gentiles who do not) that it isn’t about being right, but about being “convinced in his own mind” and that our method of keeping track of days and times really doesn’t matter outside of our own mind. Why is that relevant?

By common consensus, we all use this western calendar to keep track of time. But the calendar is just a tool. It isn’t your master. We get up to worship on Sundays, but that too is by agreement. We all (most) agree that Sunday is the day for worship. But we could worship everyday.

By the same token, we all (most) agree that the new year starts on January 1st, but you need not allow the calendar decide for you when you will make a major life change. You can decide to give your life to Jesus right now. You can call for a new year in your own life, starting today to read through the Bible, make a new commitment, or stop an old habit.

I don’t know where 2020 left you, but I call upon you not to let the calendar decide for you what kind of person you are going to be. You are more than times and dates. You were created for a higher purpose. You were made to be a child of God.

Listen to God’s voice, God’s own Word. His wisdom will get you through any year. His grace will help you through the highs and the lows. Give glory to God!