Church News - February

We have a richness in this Point Roberts community far beyond the current surface that we touch. Over the last few years, we have lost and mourned dear ones who have been part of the fabric here and we have been fortunate to welcome and become aware of new, vibrant, talented, heart-centered people. Our Jazz Vespers – organized and led by Lucy Williams – brings some of these treasures, new and old, up to the surface. Some such treasures can be found in our church services and other offerings.

With the ending of January and entry into February, as we look even deeper into the year ahead with expectation and the firming of plans and goals, I asked if AmandaLyn Wayland, who has been one of our vespers/Sunday guest speakers would permit us to pass along a reflection she read for us recently in a Sunday service, which I think others might also appreciate. Here it is. January Words to Ponder by AmandaLyn Wayland

“There’s something about winter, the shortening days and the bitter chill to the air pushing us inside, prompting us to long for cozy blankets, mugs of steaming hot drinks, and the persistent urge to reflect.

So many use the holidays to look back, casting our gaze over the gatherings and ties of our past. There, we can stumble upon nostalgic scenes that glow with warmth just as often as we can feel the melancholic memories of disappointment and loss billow up in icy puffs through our lungs. December is often defined by this bombardment of contemplation and reflection.

And then one month slips to the next, one year dissolves as another takes shape and solidifies before our eyes. We begin to crane our necks to see what could lie ahead.

The new year carries the promise of possibility. For some it is a reset, and for others, an extension of the foundation they have already been laying. We make promises to ourselves, envision what better, shinier version we could be. All the goals we didn’t check off, all the milestones we never crossed, it doesn’t matter. The slate is wiped clean.

In a way, it can feel like a cleansing. A chance to clear out any baggage we never intended to keep, dust off the surfaces, reach for the cobwebs that cover the motivation we lost track of. ‘This is it,’ we think. This year, I’m really going to do it.

And sometimes we really do. Sometimes, we get those new habits to stick. But, often, these new sides of ourselves aren’t magically born overnight, out of sheer will or determination, not bought via a shiny new gadget nor a membership that will really hold you accountable. They’re born out of a thousand tiny habits we started forming the year before. And those were built on top of what we learned the year before that, and – when we really start to take in the full picture – we see that we are built out of a million tiny, almost-invisible, remarkable little turning points. We don’t need to start over. We just need to build.”

This is still an opportunity. Having already reflected, the new year is a great time to look forward and consider what we really want, and what it will really take to move us there. But I think that movement pays off more when you carry all the work done at the end of the year last with you.

You are already the perfect foundation. You are just not done building.