Why do "... the days seem to drag on, but the years fly by"? Or at least it's been said. Maybe because the “what’s next” distracts us from the “what’s now”, always waiting but never arriving. Regardless, another yearlong grain of sand in our hourglass has now sifted through, 2016 to never again travel within that narrow neck pulled by the gravity of life. It's been reunited with the collection of others before it, awaiting 2017 to fall atop.

Now a new year... a fresh beginning, a do-over. Optimism is in the air. And with it comes a dogged determination to be better, to make right, to effect change. I can feel a resolution coming. They're often lofty, but with some past disappointment looming over the shoulder we're haunted with hesitance. Still, that doesn't seem to stop us from trying again, believing that this time will be unlike the others. Perhaps it will.

So on this New Year's I, for one, have instead decided not to shoot for the stars, to go big, to make a mark, only to watch again the boring re-run of a dashed hope on December 31st. Rather, I'm going to do something I should have resolved long before now: “… to aspire to live quietly, and to mind (my) your own affairs, and to work with (my) your hands…” (I Thessalonians 4:11). (the Apostle Paul) That's it – the freedom of simplicity.

Imagine the nobility there. A quiet life, attentive to what’s at hand, and to work.

There's nothing remotely near telling us this today. Noise all around screams something entirely different, deafening us in a cacophony of lies. Every social media outlet has a clamor to display glamor. Celebrities are more known than our own identities. Leisure is of far greater value than labor. Can we really find grace in such a place?

When the world says one thing, the t(T)ruth is usually 180 degrees divergent and will “set you free” (John 8:32b), said Jesus. And my truth is I’ve often lived much to be known as much, jealous of who’s ahead when I feel behind, waiting for “what’s next” when the work is over rather than arriving at “what’s now” while the work is at hand.

I’ve missed out on some grace, but in everything that’s missed there’s a Redeeming to be had. Jesus “is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). And the saving in saint Paul’s ancient resolution for 2017 is found in the common thread of his three-pronged decree… it’s not what’s “out there”, but what’s “in here”. It’s not the boisterous life out there, but the quiet life in here. It’s not the watching of others out there, but the minding of us in here. It’s not the leisure out there, but the work in here. Here, not there.

I’m not entirely sure what all of this means except that the fullness of grace can be found in the fullness of Jesus right where we experience life most… in the quiet moments of it, in the attending to the affairs of it and to the work of it. Why do I always think that more is to be found out there when the more is already right here?

So does this mean we can stop trying so hard to be publicly known, because we’re already quietly known fully (I Corinthians 13:12) and fully loved quietly? And can we stop concerning and comparing ourselves with others, because there’s no concerning or comparing now with the Other within? And can we live to work, because we were never created to work to live? I can see in my mind’s eye Times Square’s Ball about to drop and hear an Auld Lang Syne (for “old times’ sake”) about to sing… peacefully, privately and professionally. And I sense solace that Paul’s peaceful, private and professional resolute living turns out to be a holy living, the kind others also take note of and requires nothing of (“… so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one” - I Thessalonians 4:12). “Your cleansed and grateful life… will bear witness to what I (Jesus) have done.” (Matthew 8:4b) Grace rains down and Jesus shines brightly in that kind of purposed living, because it turns out to be a living of “light” while also being the “good work” (Matthew 5:16) of living.

An unlikely resolution for 2017 just might be one for Auld Lang Syne, a modest one from over 2,000 years ago. “… to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands...” (I Thessalonians 4:11). Perhaps, quite after all, it may be a year like no other. Happy New Year!!!

Thomas Kruggel is a non-vocational Elder at Grace Bible Church and works in the City of San Francisco