Beginning a New Year
Day 1 — August 22, 2018
by Susan McConnell
I don’t know about you, but for me, September is the beginning of the New Year. Almost 40 years of “new school years” have caused me to feel this way. It is a time for beginnings. A fresh look at things. Anything is possible at the start of a new year. Changes are best made at the start of a new year. What did not work in years past can be changed and may work this year.
This New Year.
In the Community Garden, September means new plants. Different plants from what were grown in the summer. Kale, mixed greens, lettuce, and broccoli all find a place in the fall garden.
We can evaluate which plants grew well and what did not. We think about what to change. The air is cooler.
We can work longer without withering in the summer heat. We don’t have to water as much.
There are fewer weeds! – which always brings joy and tends to hold off the frustration that sometimes arises as we ask each other, “Now, why are we doing this?”
And why are we doing this?
The short answer would be that we are trying, in a very small way, to provide the folks in Cleveland County, who are hungry, with some fresh vegetables.
The longer answer involves passion and obedience.
God planted the seed. We are just trying to be obedient in carrying it out. We are passionate and we love to get dirty. And as we work in the garden, people walk by and many stop to talk. We are then able to share the love of Christ by offering food and words of encouragement. And perhaps for a brief moment, God is revealed in a new way.
“ God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:
wise counsel
clear understanding
simple trust
healing the sick
miraculous acts
proclamation
distinguishing between spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues.
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (The Message)
What are your gifts? What are you passionate about?
Let this September be that new beginning for you as you seek to discern what seed God has planted in your heart!