2026 The Year of "This or That"

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.' Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead what you ought to say, 'If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.' "

- James 4: 13-15

As I slow down to welcome in another year the quiet space created for this time of reflection effortlessly summons my thoughts toward the meaning and purpose of my days and life, the hopes I have, the visions I behold. Like one who looks out from on top a grand cliff over a seemingly endless, unfolding landscape of natural terrain just waiting to be traversed, I look from atop the new year and envision a year unfolded and spread out before me, waiting to be travelled.

This year the preparation of my heart for this journey is the release of anxious expectations of what I think will happen, and a surrender and openness to the space of possibility. My expectations soften into hopes and my rigid plans relax into the realm of what is possible. The grip that pulls and yanks for control gives way to the the hand that lends itself freely to be led in the flow of life. Sure, I may have an aim, but the door is wide open to the vast truth of what God has in place for me, for His "this or that" for my life.

For me, this posture toward the new year feels easier, feels lighter than the supposed solid stance in my own assured expectations, which are often accompanied by anxieties and dually met with disappointments. Instead, this posture, that welcomes in and makes room for God's "this or that" for my life, invites gladness in knowing that there will surely be joyful possibilities but also acknowledges the very real likelihood of... painful possibilities. Yet, I know that my abiding in the Lord better equips and prepares me for these possible times of adversity and allows me to traverse them more successfully than if I had never left room for the possibility of them. I trust the Lord. I am with God and He is with me. And for those of us who rest in the Lord we know that He never leaves or forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5), He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), and we are assured that all things work together for good for those who abide in Him and live according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

My hope of course in this posture toward the new year is that the sum of the joyful possibilities would outweigh the sum of the painful possibilities, but that even in times of trial there would be triumph through perseverance, triumph in the insight and wisdom gained, and triumph in my being made more into the likeness of Christ for the glory of God.

May the mist of my life be a beautiful fragrance to the living God as I listen for and walk in His 'this or that' for my year, revealing His good and promising purpose for my life.

Amen