Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
2022 is going to be a fantastic year! I expect there to be some bumps in the road, but by any measure I am certain that 2022 is going to be a great year. A year of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, a year of hot showers and tasty food, a year of great church music and marginal sermons, a year when the pandemic loses its grip and life returns to the new normal.
2022 is going to be a great year, but if that is to be true, you will need to participate. What will be the single most important determining factor in your experience in 2022? Your attitude!
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” Frances Hodgson Burnett
“Our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude towards us.” John Mitchell
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Oscar Wilde
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement, nothing can be done without hope.” Helen Keller
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” Dale Carnegie
Life is hard. Life is hard for everyone. The Bible tells us that in every human life there will be times of weeping and mourning, but the Bible also says that there will be times of laughter and dancing. I expect to do both, but I certainly expect to spend more time laughing and dancing.
Saint Teresa of Avila said, “From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord deliver me.”
Our goal should be to position ourselves somewhere between the naiveite of those with heads buried in the sand and the despair of those who wallow in the desert of the 24-hour news cycle. There are problems in the world and from our position of privilege we can help solve some problems.
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” Maya Angelou
My friends, open your eyes and look around. We live in comfort and safety with only first world problems. “The ferries are a mess, the mail is slow, my package from Amazon is late.” Get over it, get some ice cream from your overflowing freezer, and look out your window at the Garden of Eden we call home.
2022 is going to be a great year! This will be the year we get past the masks and see smiling faces again. We have so much to be thankful for, we have so much to celebrate, we have been blessed. But we are never blessed in isolation; we are blessed to be a blessing to others. It is hard to bless others, if we move through life with a dark cloud and a doomsday attitude. Let us adjust our attitudes and believe that the best is yet to come!
2022 is going to be a great year!
I end with Dr. Seuss: “You’re off to great places, today is your day. Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.”
In anticipation and hope,
Pastor Jim
