From Our Family To Yours, Merry Christmas!
It’s natural for us to take some time at the end of the year to think about where we are in life. It is good for us to look back at the ways God has met us over the past year, and to pray and plan what we’d like to be about in the year ahead. As cancer warriors that looks and feels different than what others do. We have a clear sense of the brevity of life and every day is a gift. So, it is quite understandable that we want to do our best and hope for the best.
But what does that really mean?
It can mean a number of different things, it could mean staying optimistic even in the midst of discomfort, it means staying faithful to protocols even when you don’t feel like it. It means staying faithful in prayer, even when it doesn’t seem like it is making a difference. In pondering these things myself, I was reminded of something Jesus talked about as the key to a meaningful and vibrant life. It is one of the most counter-intuitive things he said.
“Whoever clings to his life, will lose it, but whoever lays down his life for my sake will find it.” (MT 10:39)
This sounds simple in theory, but the actual laying down of our ambitions, presuppositions, and expectations of success (as the world defines it) is no small thing. It’s a huge step of faith. But once you go there and do it, something beautiful can be reborn in us.
Candidly, I wish it were a one-and-done kind of deal.
Sadly, it is not!
It’s about laying it down (time and again), because the truth of our human condition is that we want what we want, when pain and heartache abound relief is all we can think about, and the culture’s enticements don’t let up.
So, as we come up to the end of another year and look ahead to 2025, I want to declare it afresh. Before making my own plans for the year ahead, I want to affirm it unashamedly again.
Not my plans… but yours!
Not my success… but yours!
Not my name being great… but yours…
Care to join?
Interested in supporting this new initative?
The Van Waarde Foundation underwrites and supports a variety of projects and team members committed to supporting, educating, and encouraging fellow cancer warriors and their families. As we look to the future, we are excited about creating a variety of new resources that will provide pastoral support to those battling cancer. This initiative will include this newsletter AND a host of other resources including a new podcast providing helpful information on health and fitness, fresh pocket prayers delivered daily to fellow cancer warriors, a new page on the website “heal” Heal – Piet Van Waarde with weekly reflections on navigating the “dailyness” of the journey, plus a soon-coming book Keep on Healing that will address the top 50 questions people face when confronted by a cancer diagnosis. We want to make these resources available at little/no cost to those who need them, and your support through the Foundation (https://www.patreon.com/pietvanwaarde) makes that possible.
Thank you in advance for your prayerful consideration.
