Year after Year, or should I say, “New Year’s after New Year’s”, people are filled with wonder and the anticipation a “New” year will bring. We get out that bucket list and we plan to do wonderful and new things. We plan to do things differently and those unattainable goals are again within reach. We start the clock hoping this year will be our best year yet! But if I may be honest, it continually brings a false hope.
This false hope goes hand in hand with those New Year’s Resolutions. Who really keeps those? They are long forgotten by February. The Lord says apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5), that’s the truth.
This year, I took a step back from the whole New Year’s facade and I asked God why do we get wrapped up in the hype? I seriously asked God what is it about the New Year that makes people so eager for? Now God didn’t answer me in the form of a burning bush, or send a messenger angel with the answer, but I am confident He did answer me, His Word says in Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know."
After I asked, I instantly remembered learning about the Palmar Reflex, also known as the Grasp Reflex. At about 11 weeks after conception, a developing baby in the womb develops this reflex. The unborn has the reflex to hold on tight. It grasps its umbilical cord, its other hand and ears. Identical twins will grasp onto each other in utero! After birth, a newborn will grasp your finger and hold on so tight his entire body can be raised up with his grip. The more you pull away, the tighter that little one will hold.
After this recollection, I had a light bulb moment, or rather a Holy Spirit moment. I put two and two together. We are born grasping, physically and spiritually. And until we grasp onto the Spirit of Life, we are continually grasping. I heard that still small voice whisper John 3:6-9 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, You must be born again."
That’s it! We were grasping at birth and we are grasping in the new year. Until we are born again, we are grasping a false hope and a false life. Until we grasp onto the Spirit of Life, we will continue the New Year’s cycle.
Grasp on to the Lord in 2018, Be Born Again and allow God to prosper you, to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). When you grasp onto God, God grasps onto you. John 10:28-29. "I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."
Oh, how tight His grip is!
Written by Christina Calvache
Thank you. Again the Lord has perfect timing. This first week of the new year I was searching for "the way things should be, the way I want it to be." God has his plans for us and when we loose focus on his desire, place focus on our desires, he sends messages just like this one. Thank you for helping me hear him.