2011, not a new decade.

I feel like, as we roll into 2011, we're beginning a new decade. I don't know why I think that... clearly last year we started a new decade. I suppose it seems that way because of all the new direction that is driving my life. Last year was a year of endings, it felt like. I ended my job with the Beaufort County School District. I ended my senseless working for money, instead of working for God, doing what He has sent me to do. I ended being afraid, although it is a constant battle. Maybe I just ended losing the battle to fear.

This year, though, is a year of beginnings. I have already begun placing my trust in Him, in His sovereignty, and in His provision. This year I begin in earnest as a farmer. There are some really excellent parallels between farming the earth and spiritual matters. First, there is the the entire farming metaphor- you put healthy inputs into the earth, you plant seeds, you tend them, and great fruit develops which can then be harvested. On a spiritual level, you nurture other people, help them know God and develop their relationship with Him, and then He "harvests" them as His own.

Important, indeed. I can't forget that God created the earth for us, for me. When I am out, working in the dirt, working the dirt, I can sense God in a more direct way. I've always seen God in nature- so much beauty must have a beautiful creator; I'm ecstatic to spend 2011 experiencing Him in His creation, working as a co-creator of sorts, albeit on a much more base level.

In pure reality, unaffected by societal pressure or coercion, 2011 is all about surrender. We can maintain a clean conscience because we are surrendered to God. Freedom comes not from following our own desires, nor from denial, nor from the perfection of the self, but from God and God alone. Freedom from our vanity, pride, perfectionism' guilt. Guess what- that freedom that only comes from God enables us to be greater than we ever could by ourselves, and we may not make any fewer mistakes.

Here's to you, in 2011. The new year is a time to refocus and begin with a clean slate, and that is a beautiful thing, full of hope and promise.