What We May Become

“We know what we are now, but know not what we may become.”  Ophelia, Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5

It’s the dawn of a new year, and with a new year comes a myriad of possibilities.  What will this year hold?  This past year was filled with changes and uncertainty, but also real progress.  I graduated college, moved to a new city, started a new career, and made connections that will potentially lead to missions opportunities.  All of that was incredible and difficult and exciting.  It helped grow me into the person I am becoming, into the person I want to be. 

But the tricky thing about possibilities is that it goes both ways.  If I am not actively striving to be a better person, then I will inevitably become a worse one.  Inside each of us is potential.  Potential for good and potential for evil.  I want to nurture that potential for good.  I want to look more like Jesus each day.  I want to serve and bring joy and be who God created me to be.  My soul sings just writing those words because I can feel the truth in them.

Yet, I also know that my natural instinct is to give in to selfishness and fear.  I do not want to put myself out there to accomplish those things.  I am afraid of rejection and failure, and I’m so tired from simply living that serving others sounds exhausting.

So every day, every moment I must make a decision.  Will I choose to do what I was created to do?  Will I be brave enough to the needs of others ahead of my wants?  Or will I choose to indulge my selfish nature?

As obvious as the answer seems, this is not a black and white situation.  Some days I will choose right, but often I will choose wrong.  For those days and those moments I beg forgiveness.  And I beg for strength to make the right choice next time.  And that is the joy of a new year; it reminds me that there will always be a next time.  On the days that I give into my sinful nature, I take solace in the fact that I have an ever-gracious Father who forgives me and grants me another opportunity to play a part in his kingdom.  For “His mercies are made new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23).  I will not always choose to serve.  I will not always choose to stop and help.  I will not always choose to be kind.  But I am always forgiven when I repent of my failures.   And I am so very grateful for that.

So this year what possibilities await you?  Whatever this year holds, remember that each day is a new opportunity.  Use it wisely, but if one day or week is rough, remember that there is a fresh start coming with the dawn.