Sweetwater Presbyterian

Small in size, Large in Faith and Love

Devotion January 15, 2020

Greetings All!

Happy New Year!  How many of you stayed up and brought in the new year?  Or like my husband, who went to bed way before the ball dropped!  But that is nothing unusual because he never stays up to bring in the New Year... 
There was one year however when he actually stayed up for New Years - remember the year 2000?  We lived in a very rural area that year with essentially one town in the whole county and that small little town decided the year 2000 was worth a big celebration.  For the evening they closed down the streets of the town, set up tables filled with sparkling grape juice and the year 2000 hats and noise makers and all kinds of food and the best thing ever was the crane in the middle of town which held a big disco ball that dropped at the stroke of 12.  
I also remember we were told the whole world was going to self destruct when it turned 2000 and thankfully that didn't happen!
Anyway my husband and the whole family went to this celebration which was a great time - and the husband stayed up till midnight when they dropped the ball from the crane and everyone shook their noise makers and drank their sparkling grape juice!
Now we are at the beginning of a new year and what I noticed as I stayed up to watch the New Years Rockin’ Eve is that the 2020 jokes were rampant.  
If you haven’t heard the 2020 jokes I’m surprised.  Right before the Times square ball dropped there was about a ten minute montage of Barbara Walters saying “Good evening.  I am Barbara Walters and this is 2020”.  Then the next day as the Rose Parade was broadcast, there again was a different montage of Barbara Walters saying “Good evening.  I am Barbara Walters and this is 2020” and I figured we were in for a few weeks of hearing Barbara Walters say “Good evening.  I am Barbara Walters and this is 2020”.  
And I was right. I’m really hoping we aren’t in for a whole year of “Good evening.  I am Barbara Walters and this is 2020”.  
But then came the series of vignettes where people were using the “We can see 20/20 this year” phrases over and over as they showed eye charts and those metal things the eye doctor has you look through when the doctor is measuring your eyes along with various other types of eye pictures to support the 20/20 illusion. “We can see 20/20 this year” I predict is going to show up in a lot of places over the next 11 months!
The first few times of this 2020 funny fest was pretty amusing with all this Barbara Walters talk and the 20/20 vision quip and then after a couple of weeks of hearing it over and over it became pretty annoying. To the point where when these punch lines appeared there was a quick channel change or radio station change and an audible 'ugg'….. And maybe even a wish for a quick coming of 2021 which doesn’t hold the obvious material for playing with words - or playing with number words!
While over saturation of anything can make our lives miserable and cause multiple eye rolls and audible ‘uggs’, we can never  be over exposed to the word of God.  We should never be annoyed when we hear once again “For God so loved the world…” or “In the beginning….” In fact unlike “Good evening.  I am Barbara Walters and this is 2020”, we should crave hearing God’s word as much as we can for it is in God’s word that we find our identity; our special place in God’s eyes; our goals and our purpose; our comfort and strength….
I admit I am tired of “Will you see with 20/20 vision this year?” but each day I enjoy hearing the words of God over and over.
And that is how it should be!