Happy new year to you all!
I decided to take an extended break over the festive period this year. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. It’s Wednesday so tonight I share the devotions I shared earlier today on Bellshill Salvation Army Band’s Facebook page.
At the start of a new year, we hear a lot about fresh starts, new habits, new goals, new planners…many of which, if we’re honest, may not survive until February! But for those of us who make music, the idea of refreshing things carries a special meaning.
Every time we rehearse, we work together, directed by our bandmaster, to make the music come alive for us and for those who hear us playing. Even if we played our music beautifully last month or last week, we still need to rehearse, not because we suddenly can’t play anymore, but to remind us to play at the right time, together and in a way that conveys the message the music was written to portray.
Our relationship with God can be like that too. Nothing is wrong, because God hasn’t moved, His love hasn’t changed, but the distractions of life can leave us a forgetting to trust God in every situation. A new year becomes a gentle invitation to refocus our hearts again.
Psalm 51 says, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.” Not “give me something new,” but “restore what is already mine.” It’s a prayer of refreshing, not reinventing.
As we step into this year, maybe we can choose to:
- Retune our hearts by making space for God’s voice.
- Listen closely for the Spirit’s leading.
- Play with joy, remembering worship is a relationship with God, not performance.
- Let God set the tempo of our lives, instead of rushing ahead or dragging behind.
- Allow Him to restore our joy in serving.
To reinforce this I want to share an extract from a poem written in 1908 by Minnie Louise Haskins. Its words have carried many people through uncertain seasons, and contain a true for us to take into this new year.
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.
excerpt from ‘The Gate of the Year’ by Minnie Louise Haskins
These words remind us that we don’t need perfect clarity to begin again. We simply need to place our hand in God’s, trusting Him to guide us through whatever lies ahead.
So as we start this new year, may these words give us confidence to face whatever lies ahead for us.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me!
By his own hand he leadeth me;
His faithful follower I will be,
For by his hand he leadeth me.
The Distinct Dot 