Hanging in the Balance

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.                  Alfred Lord Tennyson

Today marks the 363rd day of a wild year that flew by in a sluggish sort of way.  With only a few days left of 2017, a profound quiet all around reminds me that we are hanging in the balance between the end and a beginning. Whiling away the final days of a year gone mad. 

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky. The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Hanging in the balance between the end and a beginning, I wrap up this year with more questions than answers, eager to brush away tiny shards lingering from 2017's confusion and complexity. I am tempted to believe the press--the fake and the flippant, the audacious and the cowardly. I am tempted to step into a new year wringing my sweaty hands with worry.

Ring out the old, Ring in the new

So, as I teeter on the precipice between what was and what will be, I am reminded to take a deep breath, and to steady myself with the Truth. His name is Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the One who was and is and is to come. When little else is sure and steadfast, Jesus is the Anchor for my soul.  

Ring, happy bells, across the snow

Maybe you are like me, hanging on for dear life between the end and a beginning. Try setting aside a little time of quiet, and read the Word over the next few days and listen for his voice. Try ending and beginning with a gleaming sliver of truth everlasting.

I read this passage today and found solid ground: 

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:28–31).

The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.