Happy New Year—Happy Birthday
Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“I have come that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10 (NKJV)
I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to believe that another year is in the record books, as I find myself sitting here being welcomed by the sunrise into the first Monday morning of a brand new year—2017. I wonder if growing older has anything to do with it, or is it that being busier tends to blur the lines of each passing day, month and year. Or maybe I’m just not paying attention. I hope that’s not the case.
I wonder if this is the year I will do the things I have long felt I should do?
It’s a brand new year—2017—and it’s Lynda’s birthday. My bride.
As I sit here, I remember a few years ago starting the New Year together on her birthday by watching the movie—“An American Tail.” Some of you will remember it, others of you will need to make it a part of your journey.
It’s an animated story about a mouse, Fievel, and his family who emigrate from Russia to America because they hear that there are no cats in America. Dreams of freedom from the tyranny of the constant chase for survival—fulfilled at last!
At one point in the movie, Fievel becomes separated from his family and most of the rest of the movie tracks Fievel and his efforts to find his family. Along the way he meets many characters—both good and bad—and discovers many things, including the startling revelation that America, in fact, also has cats.
One night, while looking out the window of his temporary tenement room at the full moon above, dreaming of finding his family once again, he realizes that they—wherever they are—might be looking up at that same moon at that very moment, and sings these words:
“Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight,
Someone’s thinking of me and loving me tonight,
Somewhere out there someone’s saying a prayer
That we’ll find one another in that big somewhere out there,
And even though I know how very far apart we are,
It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star.
Somewhere out there if love can see us through,
Then we’ll be together somewhere out there—
Out where dreams come true.”
Here we are in the first week of a brand New Year filled with quiet dreams of things we have carried in our hearts for way too long. Maybe this is the year where those dreams become reality as we realize that—
Somewhere out there is the person you’ve always dreamed you would be,
Somewhere out there is a child dreaming dreams that will never come true,
unless someone steps in to help,
Somewhere out there a child goes to bed hungry, or abused, cold and scared,
Somewhere out there someone has just lost their job, or realized that the
career ladder they have been climbing led to nowhere and in the process they ignored people and things that really mattered most,
And somewhere out there, God is waiting for you to turn to Him, so He can tell
you He loves you and point you toward all He created you to be.
I suppose the years aren’t really going by any faster than before. Maybe it’s just that the time left to be all that we were created to be in this, our one moment of history on this planet, is becoming a little shorter.
Somewhere out there in 2017 there are dreams waiting to be fulfilled, children and people needing help, and the lives we were created to live—waiting to be lived.
Think about that for a moment—but not for too long—there is too much to do!
May you feel His arms around you today and throughout 2017, and may you feel His gentle nudge moving you toward becoming all He created you to be—today and every day for the rest of your life.
Happy New Year! And Happy Birthday, sweet girl!
And by the way, Fievel finally found his family!
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2017. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
