LEAven Blog
DOORWAY
Happy 2025 to everyone! Perhaps you are someone who makes New Year’s resolutions each January. You make a promise or promises to yourself to “do better” or “be better” in one way or another in the new year that has just begun. For some of us, these resolutions work well, and we tend to keep them and make the positive changes involved. (OK, I don’t think I actually KNOW anybody like that, but…) On the other hand, for many of us, within days or even hours, we turn out not to be so resolute in our resolutions!
A professional colleague of a good friend of mine has an interesting alternative to the tried and true “New Year’s resolution.” After taking the time to pray, contemplate, and study Scripture, he picks ONE WORD that somehow sums up his emphasis for the new year, as he seeks to be a strong follower of the will of God for his life. He has used words such as “love”, “faith”, “hope”, as just a few examples. I have decided to try this myself this year. Here is my choice of words and my rationale for that word.
John’s word for 2025: DOORWAY
Reasons why I have chosen that word:
– Some people need an entrance into rest where they can lay down their weariness. Some people need a doorway into a place of Christian love and. shelter for a time. I want to be that point of entrance for those people, to be able to receive what they need.
– Some people are ready to go out into the world and do great things for Christ. I want to be one who encourages them to do so. I want to be one who is their doorway onto the path, which is the road to a life of serving and loving God for all He has done for us in His Son, Jesus.
– A doorway is a place where all can see the blood of the Lamb smeared on the doorposts of that doorway – blood which has been shed for the forgiveness of sins and applied to the doorposts of our lives for all to see. As people look at the blood-stained doorposts of our lives, they see God’s grace and mercy applied liberally to us and for all. (Exodus 12:7 and First Peter 1:18-20)
Going through this process has made me curious: what would YOUR word be for the year 2025? If you come up with a word, please share it with me by sending a comment through the comment section. We could end up with a pretty extraordinary word tree!
Fulfill
Both Elaine (my spouse) and I will complete our final year of formal ministry as Commissioned Ministers in Lutheran Schools this June. For her, it will be 36 years in four Cleveland-area schools. For me, it is 23 years in three schools following a career change and a retirement four years ago – short lived, as a Lutheran School principal. The word selected comes from Colossians 4:17, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord,” (ESV). Teaching has been a joy for us, and definitely something given, on loan, to us from God. So many wonderful families, students, peers met, and memories made along the way. Perhaps our legacy would be that three of our children are in the “family business” of education, with our son, a Commissioned Minister serving in Indiana.