A Year of New Possibility!
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Come just as you are, bringing whatever is on your heart today. Take a few moments and allow yourself to just be. Take a couple of deep breaths, grab yourself a cup of coffee, light a candle—do something that brings you comfort. Allow yourself to be present in this moment.
Consider the new possibility offered to you by both the changes that have occurred in this past year, and by the changes awaiting you in the year to come.
And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been. . .
- Rainer Maria Rilke
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Matthew 5:16
Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Food for Thought
Here we are again . . . the beginning of another year after a hectic season!
Time just seems to fly by, and yet when I look back over the last twelve months, so much has happened and so much has changed. I am sure the same is true for many of you.
There have been job shifts and personal losses, new friendships and changed relationships, new chapters opened and dreams discovered, new life born and loved ones lost. Many of the milestones that seem to have defined this year for my family weren’t in our “plan,” and oftentimes we didn’t see them coming.
I would love to say that I am one of those people who embraces change gracefully or someone that can ebb and flow with life’s surprises, but the truth is I am sentimental and nostalgic. I have a hard time letting go of what was, and change just serves as a reminder that time is marching on—whether I like it or not.
I think it’s natural to seek out the things that feel comfortable, safe, and predictable. They offer us a sense of security. Maybe they give us a sense that we have a level of control over how things might turn out. But life has a funny way of reminding us that the only true constant in life is change.
Change is an inevitability that just “is.” And while change can be scary because it holds a lot of unknowns, it can also allow us the opportunity for new possibilities.
Coming out of the season of Christmas and Advent, I am struck by the life of this one whose birth we have been celebrating. This small babe who offered the world new possibilities and a newness of love for one another.
Through his life and witness, Jesus changed the perception of who God was to many around him. Instead of rules and red tape, he gave a message that focused on relationships and togetherness. Instead of a God who was kept at a distance, he spoke of a loving God that lived within and around everyone. His teachings were radical and challenged people’s understanding of what had always been.
I imagine the people of the time were a lot like I can be: hesitant to change. Maybe they just weren’t ready for it. Maybe they were scared. Maybe it wasn’t in “their plan.” But that doesn’t mean this change, this shift in understanding, couldn’t offer something of goodness to them.
Change is not often easy, but it does often yield goodness and necessary growth. Jesus changed his world, and his message of love continues to create change in our world today, hundreds of years later. Through his life, he opened the world to new possibilities of worth and community. Likewise, we each have the same opportunity to live our lives in ways that create new possibilities through the love we carry into the world around us.
We cannot be sure of what changes may come in this year, but we can choose to open ourselves to those changes in ways that allow us to see the new possibilities and the necessary growth that they might bring. Just like that, change can be a vehicle for goodness and newness in our personal lives, in our homes, in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our communities—if only we open ourselves to it.
Take a few minutes and write down all of the changes that have occurred in your life over the past year, both big and small.
Take stock of your list. Is there a way to give thanks for the new possibility offered to you by each of those changes?
For a printable version of today's reflection Click Here!
Blessing
God of New Possibility,
We give thanks for the ways that we have known your presence with us in both the easy and the difficult changes of the past year. As we look ahead to a new year, help us to open ourselves to the changes we experience, and to find your grace in the goodness and newness of the possibilities we encounter.
Amen.
A little Table Talk for your table...
Share with a friend a change that has happened in your life this past year.
Discuss how you feel about this change. How did it offer a shift in trajectory or perspective for you?
How has welcoming change into your life changed you? Share one lesson that a specific change has taught you and one thing you can appreciate about it.
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Talk to the children in your life about the changes they’ve experienced over the past year.
How do they feel about those changes?
Go for a walk (or look out your window) and have your kiddos notice the trees. Talk with them about how the trees change from season to season and how there is beauty in each phase of their growth.
Meet Our Welcoming Voice!
The Welcome Table Team - We are “The Bunce Girls!” Originally from Lexington, North Carolina, we were raised surrounded by music, justice, and faith. We spent most of our Sunday afternoons gathered around an open table with family and friends where the food was plentiful, stories and laughter connected our hearts, and where the presence of each individual was held sacred. It’s those moments that have inspired The Welcome Table.
To hear more from the TWT Team throughout the week, follow along on our Instagram!
Here are Five Things to Remember When Setting Your Own Welcome Table!
If you have a story that you would like to be included as a Reader's Write feature, we'd love to hear from you! Message us on our contact page or email us at thewelcometableco@gmail.com.