Empty Handed

Well we made it through the flurry of Christmas and I don't know about you but I'm looking at returning to work tomorrow. Most years I have an optimistic view of what's to come, but this year I've got my lists of things I want to get done and things I want to see accomplished, honestly walking forward with a whatsoever comes kind of attitude. Christmas was a little anticlimactic and while I know its not all about me, its just felt different. Shoot, the past few years haven't felt right. Its like I can't even plan my vacation months ahead of time because I don't know what is in store. I mean that's how life has always been in reality, but it seems more tiring right now to make plans and then have to squelch them. 

Life is unwieldy and complicated. I'm afraid I've grown calloused but I hope its that I'm being more fluid. In our house, we begin every year with a time of fasting and prayer, 21 days of seeking the Lord and laying down what we have been carrying unsuccessfully on our own.

We all made it through the flurry of celebration, family, friends, activity, and here we are on the other side maybe feeling tired, bare, bored even. When the decorations come down and the feast is over life can seem kind of blah.

It makes me think of another time that was spent on the other side of whirlwind activity and suspense. In a devotional I follow, Lectio 365, I came across this and it encouraged me, so I want to share it with you all. 

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
 Acts 2:1-4 

The Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to speak in other tongues. As the story continues, the Spirit enabled them to speak about Jesus with boldness, to endure hardship and persecution, to perform miracles, to serve the poor, to discern and make difficult decisions, and much more. 
These are the kinds of things that Spirit-enabled people do. What might the Spirit be enabling me to do this year?

John Wesley was at a prayer meeting that happened a lot like the one in Acts. It catapulted him into ministry. The Methodist Covenant prayer, written by John Wesley himself in 1755, is prayed by millions of Methodists at the start of every year. 

I am no longer my own, but Yours.
 Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
 Put me to doing, put me to suffering;
 Let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you,
 Exalted for you, or brought low for you;
 Let me be full, 
Let me be empty,
 Let me have all things,
 Let me have nothing:
 I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
 To your pleasure and disposal.
 And now, glorious and blessed God,
 Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
 You are mine and I am yours. So be it.
 And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
 Amen.