Rhythm Libby VanSolkema

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Rhythm So we are 15 days into this new year and I have been thinking (dangerous). I have been thinking about minutes, days, weeks and years. I have been thinking about the rhythm that time creates for us. December turns to January. Sunday turns to Monday. Night turns to morning. Although the pattern is normal, even comforting, there is also something about it that tugs at my soul with each passing day, week, year. As parents, I do not need to explain the tug...that one that pulls when we look at the baby pictures, photos of their first day of Kindergarten, the portrait from the daddydaughter dance, or the snapshot of their dorm room. There is something incredibly sad about a chapter closing no matter how exciting the next one seems to be. Then I think about the Lord. How he made us in His image and yet different. You see the text tells us that with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day (2 Peter). Genesis tells us that He created the sun and the moon. So for all eternity prior to that, there was no sun to come up nor moon to shine. There were no mornings and no nights. It also tells us that He never slumbers or sleeps (Psalm 121). Our eternal God and heavenly Father is so wholly different than we. He does not need to be marked by time and yet as He created us and designed the world, He decided that we did. He decided that we would need to sleep. He decided that we would need fresh starts. He knew that we would need to mark the time and live in a certain rhythm. He knew we would need chapters to end so that fresh ones could start. As we head into 2018, it is a fresh start. A chapter is closing. As you glance back at 2017, what do you see? What has 2017 meant for your family? I know as I look back, there are celebrations, mistakes, memories, quiet moments, feisty fights, firsts and lasts. Before we know it, it will be January of 2019 and I will be looking back on 2018. As the rhythm marches on and the chapter of 2018 begins, I encourage you to take some time to reflect and remember 2017. But not just to remember some memories. Remember to change the future. What is one thing that you would like to change from 2017 to 2018 in your family. At the risk of sounding cliche, what is one thing that you can commit to in 2018 as it concerns your children and your family and their pursuit of the Lord. Listen, it does not have to be anything huge. It can be something small that you can actually commit to. Someone once said to me, "Random acts of greatness pale against habitual acts of faithfulness." Rhythmic acts of faithfulness. I have no idea what God is telling you but I encourage you to get with Him. Be still and listen for His whisper and then ask for His courage and His steadfast strength to be able to follow through with what He lays on your heart. Don't let the rhythm lull you into complacency. What commitment will you make to facilitate your family's pursuit of God in 2018? In the midst of examining, remembering and committing, keep in mind that while in His infinite wisdom God granted us rhythm, the text also tells us in Ecclesiastes that He has set a longing for eternity in our hearts. A longing for things not to end. A longing for a time when we would not need fresh starts. A longing for a time when the sun and moon will be replaced with the light of Jesus' face. Until then, Lamentations tells us that while the rhythm continues and change and chapters are unavoidable, there is one thing that will not change. "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Libby VanSolkema