My Year Verse For 2016

          Every year since I was 17 I’ve been selecting an annual Year Verse, a verse to guide my heart and my thinking, and my actions throughout the coming year; a kind of spiritual New Year’s resolution.  I picked up this habit from the New Year’s celebration in my home church, Arlington Presbyterian in Baltimore, Maryland. Let me share this year’s with you:

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.    Psalm 68:19

          Throughout the year ahead I want to be able to remember and focus on the scriptural truth that every day God is filling my life with benefits; blessings, good things, pleasant substance and experiences. Like writing this simple blogpost, or a warm cup of apple cider in the morning on those days when I skip an early coffee, or a good sermon by the preacher in the church I attend, or a note from one of my children (texted or handwritten), or a bright winter‘s day sitting in my car by Great Bay, or watching a good football game or movie on t.v., or greeting my wonderful wife in the morning, or…, or…, or…, etc. Make your own list of benefits.

          I want to be alert to the fact that the God of my salvation has saved me from sin and made all of my life new and fresh and blessed if I have eyes to see, and ears to hear. And I want to think about all of that often throughout the year. The musical note Selah that ends the verse has been defined by some modern interpreters as performing the function of saying to the reader or singer of the psalms, “Stop here a bit and think about what you just read.” Stop and think about your daily load of blessings. Or “count your blessings name them one by one.” Doing that will certainly make my 2016 a good year, and yours too.

          Happy, Healthy, Holy, Hilarious, New Year, to you all.