Looking Forward

Thoughts from our bishop Robert E. Hayes, Jr.

‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

Entering a new year means a new journey for each of us. In taking the journey, there are always some things to be left behind. For sure, there were mistakes and failures we all made that can never be righted or undone. There were disappointments we both experienced and caused that can hang over us like a cloud. And lastly, there are those nagging regrets leftover from things we wished we would have done and those things we shouldn’t have. Like heavy baggage we can try to carry into the New Year all the weight of those feelings from days gone by, or we can follow the advice of Jesus when he cautions us not to look back on those things we can do nothing about.

As we enter 2008, let me give you three things you will need in order to make the best use of the unexplored possibilities that await us:

First, we will need a new hope! It is a must that we include in our spiritual luggage the belief that whatever awaits us on this journey; it will ultimately lead us to a better tomorrow. Hope is an essential ingredient of life, and without it, we live in perpetual fear.

Secondly, we will need a new purpose! We cannot expect to go where we should go if we have no aim in sight. Everyone should be guided by purpose. A purposeless life is as a boat without a rudder. For me, my purpose for 2008 is to be of service to the world and the church, using every gift that God has given me to lead people to Christ and to deepen the relationship with those who have already come to Christ.

The other thing we need as we look forward to the New Year and the new journey is new life! The greatest fault of humankind is that we think we cannot change for the better. We lack faith in ourselves and the belief that nothing is impossible with God. Surely if we wish our journey to be successful, we need to make our lives better this year than last. Life is too uncertain, its dangers too great and our powers too weak to expect a safe voyage without God’s help. So let us look forward instead of backward, leaving behind the failures, disappointments and regrets of the past year, and looking forward with new hope, new purpose and new life to what God has in store for us.

God bless you all. Bishop Hayes