You might need to tweak your thinking in 2019 …

Planning for a New Year for some means dreaming new or great dreams, planning big adventures, and crafting strategies for grand accomplishments.

At least, we tend to think great experiences come from the more extravagant pursuits in life. But if we step back and look at reality, that often is not the case.

Mitchell Dillon highlights how many of life’s greatest blessings come from lowly experiences …

In ancient Celtic mythology there was a belief that there are certain places, called thin places, where the world of the seen and the world of the unseen came into closest proximity. In each of the beatitudes, Jesus points us to a kind of thin place, a place on earth where we draw closer to heaven. Surprisingly, these are lowly, humble places, each one of them repulsive in some way to the ego of man. Not one of them is a place that you or I would seek to visit in our search for a happy and meaningful life. But Jesus proposes that the treasures of the Kingdom of God are found in just such lowly places.

We default our thinking to the idea that rich blessings come largely from great accomplishments. But here’s what Jesus says …

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers,” Matthew 5:3-11.

If such great blessings are found in such lowly experiences, perhaps the wisest thing we could do in 2019 is precisely what Jesus told us we must do to be His followers, walking a way that leads us through such low places:

“Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me,” Luke 9:23.

In general, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming great dreams or plotting grand adventures. But don’t be surprised if your greatest blessings come from some of the simpler experiences in your life, and some of the grander accomplishments are limited in their satisfaction. Do you need to tweak your thinking as you plan for a New Year?

Scotty