’Twas the week after Christmas and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I’d nibbled, the eggnog I’d taste
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.
When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I went to the store, my walk was a lumber,
I’d remember the marvelous meals I’d prepared:
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,
The bread and the cheese
And the way I’d never said, “No, thank you, please.”
As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with girth.
I said to myself as only I can:
“You can’t spend a winter disguised as a man!”
So away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be vanished.
I won’t have a cookie not even a lick.
I’ll only chew on a long celery stick.
I won’t have hot biscuits or corn bread or pie.
I’ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.
I’m hungry, I’m lonesome and life is a bore.
But isn’t that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!
An anonymous woman wrote “‘Twas the Week After Christmas.” Its humor reminds me of the fact that as we start a new year, we all get a chance to start over. In Christ, all things can become new! Last Saturday I went to the O.L. Luther prison unit in Navasota to worship with the prisoners who are graduates of the Kairos weekends we hold there. As they sang worship songs, they were filled with joy and hope.
One Hispanic man I did not remember apparently remembered me, for he approached me and asked about my calling to ministry. I briefly explained how I felt called to ministry when I was 14 years old and then asked him why he wanted to know. He said with a gleam in his eye that even though he has only been a Christian a few months and has little Bible knowledge, he is feeling called to ministry. That’s a new beginning.
From serving the devil to having a vision for serving God in Christian ministry! St. Paul said, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, CEB). Although we are affected by our past, we are not trapped by it. In Christ all things can be made new.
God’s plan for us is to be eternally related to him. Here, we dwell in fleshly bodies that St. Paul called mere “tents” that are easily destroyed (I Cor. 5:1-2). In Christ, however, our bodies will be indestructible buildings which will forever be safe in relationship with the eternal God, won for us by Christ on the cross. What that new spiritual body will be like is yet to be revealed, but even now, Christ is at work in us, making us completely new.
Our loyalties have changed from self to the One who died for us. He is transforming our inner beings to reflect the beauty, love, holiness, and self-sacrificing nature of Christ Himself.
We are overcoming our fleshly weaknesses by submitting them to the lordship of Christ. We are comforted in our sorrows and troubles because we know that we are held in the arms of the Good Shepherd who cares deeply for us.
We are healed from our emotional difficulties and trauma by the Great Physician who repairs both our souls and our relationships. God is using us to bring others into life-giving relationships with the Divine and spread His salvation, redemption, healing, peace, and harmony to our world.
In Christ, we can each have a new beginning, and all things are made new.
Dr. Dan Darby is a retired United Methodist pastor.
