Malcolm's Blog

Discovering Joy

2012

08 01 12 22:15 Filed in: Reflections

I never saw the movie, and I don’t intend to. The question it prompts is, of course, the wrong one, but it boggles the mind to hear so many people asking it. Will the world come to an end next December 21 because the Mayans ran out of calendar capacity? What nonsense!

Wondering about when the world will end may make for interesting conversation, but it strikes me as a bit presumptuous. It presumes that we have - and are entitled to - more time than the present moment. But the present is all the time we ever have. Since the only time that is certain is the moment I currently have, it behooves me to use it wisely and to enjoy the One who gave it to me.

Sometimes I have welcomed the new year with a particular passage of scripture to help focus each moment that God gives. This year I’ve turned to Psalm 31. The same song in which David declares, “My times are in your hands” includes these encouraging words:

How great is your goodness
which you have stored up for those who fear you,
which you bestow in the sight of men
on those who take refuge in you.

My expectation and my hope this year has nothing to do with the Mayans. Each moment this year, I want to enjoy God’s great goodness.