The year’s end makes me reflective, remembering what happened in the last 365 days. Time takes on new significance when I acknowledge how quickly a year comes and now is gone.  Wasn’t it just a short while ago that we were ushering in 2014?

Time.  It’s precious and fleeting.  Time is what makes up a life.  It’s a gift we have been given.  And it’s a gift we can give away.  When we spend it on each other, we become richer in the process.

A new year approaches, and I wonder what it will bring. Some year’s I have hoped for something different, something better, something easier.

There is no crystal ball into the future no matter how the prognosticators might try to convince.  No one knows what 2015 has in store for any of us.  I wish there was some assurance that people will be kinder, that crime will go down and kids won’t do drugs, that our country’s financial situation will improve, that our world will get better . . . but I’m not persuaded of any of that.

But of this I am assured:  the God I serve is in control.  I don’t hope in the future.  I hope in the God of my future.  He alone is the help the world needs.  He is the only One who has the answers and holds time in His hand.

I leave you with a few lines from a poem by Sir Issac Watts.  In the 1700s he understood something about time and hope.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

O God, Our Help in Ages Past sung by Thomas Road Baptist Church

Happy New Year, Friends.  Hope in God.