OLD MEMORIES AND NEW DREAMS
February
2008 article by Mark Watts
A new year
has dawned, 2008 has begun leaving old memories behind and new dreams ahead.
Already, 2007 seems as if it’s but a distant memory. Many of us will have seen
the splendid array of fireworks centred on the London Eye that ushered in the
New Year. Sitting in front of the television watching those fireworks illuminating
the
Whilst we
all enjoy the dawn of the New Year and the festivities that go with it, for
most of us the change from one year to the next is a poignant one. Sitting in
the comfort of our homes stuffed full of turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies
whilst enjoying the break from the incessant whirl of life it’s an opportunity to
reflect on those old memories and new dreams. In our household its especially
so, my wife and I were married on the seventeenth of December and its my
birthday on the first of January, so there are several milestones to reflect on
and buy presents for.
Each of us
has our own memories of the year that has just gone. Hopefully for all of us
there are happy ones; perhaps it’s the holidays we went on, the new house we
moved into, an addition to the family or a new car, maybe even exam results.
Yet despite all the happy memories there are sometimes sad ones too to reflect
on, illnesses or people we have had to say a final goodbye to. However,
standing on the threshold of a New Year it’s as though a blank page in life’s
book is awaiting us. For some of us there are actually some pencil lines
already there, perhaps the holiday we have planned for the coming year and yet
for all of us there is the knowledge that none of us knows how the year will
pan out and what it will bring. At the same time we often reminisce looking
back at the earlier pages of our lives, for some of us there are only a few,
but if we are older then there are many more to leaf through and often its only
by looking back through the years that we realise just how much our world has
changed.
My wife
often bemoans my inability to remember how long we have been married - 2007
marked our nineteenth wedding anniversary she reminded me regularly. I always
remember it for the fact that the Lockerbie air disaster occurred while we were
on honeymoon. That event for me marks a turning point in my life, not just
because I had got married, not because I lost a friend in that atrocity but
because the world on that day changed for ever. Since then you and I have had
to come to terms with terrorism, we as individuals have observed events such as
9/11 from afar, some of us have actually been touched by the terrorists’ bomb. All
of us have seen how our politicians have machinated about what to do to resolve
the problem, in the same way that they have attempted to solve the problem of
the
We should
however not be totally surprised by these events; even a glib reading of some
of the words of Jesus Christ recorded in the Gospels predict such events and
turmoil. Luke 21 v 25/26 records the following
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and
the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after
those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be
shaken.
The New
International version renders v26 as Men’s hearts failing them for terror which
fits in well with our thread on terrorism. However, if we extend our thoughts
to include those things that are coming on the earth and the way in which
people are perplexed and unable to see a way to resolve world issues we could
very quickly make a list of other things that we suffer angst about.
We could of
course go on and to that list we could all add other things that make us personally
fret and worry about the future. The apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3 v 1-4 observes
the following
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God;
V2 is all
about an I world, where the only thing that matters is I. The vital question
though is whether these verses describe our world. When I look back at the
forty five pages that make up my life’s book, the answer would have to be yes.
On the simplest of levels, for example when I was a lad when you walked behind
someone through a door in a shopping mall they would hold it open for you and
then you would hold it open for the next person and they would say thank you.
Now, very often the door is slammed in your face and the word thank you is a
forgotten phrase. Sometimes I take my son to school and my ears burn when I
hear the choice of language that the children use in the playground and these
are eight year olds. Are these words truer now than they were forty years ago?
From my
perspective they are. This is the world
of today, the world that we have all for varying lengths of time helped to
build and it is not a pleasant picture. Thankfully the word of God offers
something much more palatable in the future. For years now each January on my
life’s new page I have pencilled in the words, this is the year that the
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear
not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he
will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of
the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of
the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert.
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to
For anyone
suffering from the illnesses and diseases of life this is a spectacular picture,
that the blind will see and that there will be joy and gladness rather than
sorrow is a wonderful prospect. Notice too from these verses that the earth is
refreshed - whoever heard of streams in the desert? In the Kingdom Isaiah tells
us it will be reality.
Elsewhere
Isaiah makes this comment in chapter two.
4 And he shall judge among the
nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Here is a description of a world at peace and it’s not just
a peace treaty - the very methodology on which war and violence is wrought has
been taken away. This is a world to want to be a part of, a world you and I
should want to see and proclaim with everlasting joy but to do so we need to be
among the ransomed of the Lord. We need to listen to God, read his book the
Bible and follow his commands. It is my prayer that you too will soon be able
to write with me on life’s page that this will be the year that brings the