Looking joyfully forward

I have never kept a daily journal like so many people in the long-gone age of pen, paper, and correcting fluid.

But I do record words of wisdom that have illumined my days and store them electronically under monthly headings labeled “Jottings.” I make no effort to gather them together every evening, or group them for easy reference later, because “later” never comes.

Some jottings reappear in my articles and speeches, but most of them are quickly lost sight of and forgotten—unless I resolve to put them to work enlivening and inspiring the future.

I think most of us would agree that we won’t easily forget 2020—including the Covid onslaught, the contentious election season, and the redefinition of the word normal.

But as so often happens when comfort and calmness are threatened, we also saw normal people rise to remarkable acts of selflessness. Courage resurfaced, and there were shining moments of tenderness lauded in news headlines.

As Christianity Today columnist Matt Reynolds suggested, perhaps more people found a healthy balance between current events and eternal verities—between the news that keeps them informed, and the Good News that keeps them rejoicing in sickness and in health.

In this light, let’s look at some of the quotes that made my jottings pages in 2020, and consider how they might affect our daily lives in 2021.

Columnist Jon Gordon: “While many say they would like to forget 2020, I honestly don't want to forget it. I want to remember what it taught me and the unexpected gifts I have given and received.”

Proverbs 29:18: “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.”

Late Jim Lehrer, two of nine rules: 1) “Do nothing I cannot defend.” 2) “Cover, write, and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.”

Unknown: “Behind every question is a story waiting be discovered.”

Nelson Mandela: “If [people] can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Richard Rohr: “The Kingdom of Heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place.” 

Philippians 4:6-7: “Prayer is how we actively practice believing, so simply, so confidently, that God has the whole world in his hands. It’s where we let petitions and praises shape our worries into prayers, letting God know our concerns.”

Jen Pollock Michel: “Prayer is never the last resort of God’s people. It is our first point of action.“

Edgar Degas: “Art is not what you see but what you make others see.”

Harvard Business Review: “Uncertainty is not immune to reservoirs of gratitude, a determination to persevere, and a willingness to learn new lessons.”

James Finley: “Our deepest freedom rests not in our freedom to do what we want to do, but rather in our freedom to become who God wills us to be.”

Andrew Abernathy, Wheaton College: “God wants  you to sink your roots deep in the story of his faithfulness. He wants you to direct your hopes for a better world toward him (prophets), to pour out your heart before him in lament (Psalms), and to persevere amidst unexplainable suffering (wisdom). I need the Old Testament for Christmas … and I suspect you do too.”

Anna Quindlen: “The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”

II Timothy 1:7: “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”

Kelly Barbrey: “Today I’m challenged to do things differently. Instead of praying for my circumstances to change, I am now praying to flourish where I am, knowing and believing that the star of wonder and the miracle of Christmas is hidden there, just beyond the thick and looming clouds.”