“How I want to follow your commandments. Renew my life with your goodness.” -Psalm 119:40
I am beginning a program of renewal this coming 2012. I am enrolled in a program through the conference that focuses on renewing the health of clergy-emotionally, spiritually, and physically (there is a rumor going around that United Methodist clergy are for the most part overweight! I am a base-line participant to demonstrate what a properly slim clergy person looks like. (ROTFLOL!)
I am really excited because I could use a little renewal! I am looking forward to a retreat to empty my mind and to just focus on listening to God. Frankly, I think that I talk too much. And I am reminded of the great words from A.W. Tozer: “If you are doing all the talking when you pray, how will you know when God answers?”
And I keep telling Mo that I want to lose a few pounds-get back to the weight I was when we got married; the time before she started fattening me up like some Christmas ham. She keeps telling me that she is ready for me to do just that. But you know how it is! That road to good intentions is paved with Chick-fil-A sandwiches and Parker’s Bar-b-que. I mean to do well and, as you well know, I can out walk anyone-except Hillie Luckett!
As I write this missive, it occurs to me that each of us needs renewal! Yes, it is true, my dear friends. After almost five years of living and praying with you, I know you too well. (Some of you don’t like that, thus you stay home.) You are no different than me.
Here it is mid-December, as I am writing this, and I am already longing for spring! Spring brings renewal to the earth-I know that growth is taking place in the cold of December, but it is hard for me to see it. Everything is being renewed as we live and breathe; it is the nature of our world. No created thing can continue on its own forever.
And like the blooming of new flowers and the greening of the trees, our spiritual lives are in constant need of new growth. There is the need for constant renewing of the relationship that we have with the Almighty; the need to draw closer in that relationship as we seek to prune those areas of our lives that need to change.
As we come into the New Year, I see the renewal of the spirit as essential. Some of you may find that you have gotten too busy with the world and have need to renew the soul. Let me encourage you to be more in the Word during the coming year; to begin and end each day with time set aside for the Lord; to be more involved in the church. I am convinced that the more we seek to renew our spiritual self the greater we will develop our relationship with the Lord. And just as the physical body sheds weight by exercise, the spiritually renewed Christian finds restoration and renewed hope when we are not so caught up in the world.
Have a blessed day; I wish you joy and peace.
Still in His Peace,
Pastor William
