Tonight I looked back at the New Year’s Day blogs I’ve posted since Nate died: January 1 of 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.

It was interesting to read what I’d been thinking about when one  year rolled into the next. As I read, I felt somehow superior to the beginning-of-the-year-Margaret who was writing on those January 1^sts, and in a way I was, because I now know what she didn’t know then about her upcoming year.

For example, when I wrote at the start of 2010 asking God to prepare me for whatever the year would bring, I now can see exactly how he did that. Or in 2012, when I wrote about choosing a banner-year Bible verse praying for “quietness and trust in God” (Isaiah 30:15), I now can see the considerable turmoil the year was going to bring and can understand the reason he influenced me toward that particular verse.

After reading each of those 4 New Year’s Day blogs, I was nodding and saying, “I get it now. I see what God was doing.”

That might be a bit of the way God feels about time passing. He doesn’t have to wait 365 days to know the details of any given year and never stands at the threshold of another January 1st wondering what will happen next. And as for feeling superior, he’s profoundly so.

So then why doesn’t he let us in on some of what’s coming, just like the end-of-the-year-Margaret could have informed the beginning-of-the-year-Margaret? One reason might be that we wouldn’t like what he told us. Another is evident in a verse I used on a New Year’s blog from the year after Nate died: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

It should be enough for us to know that God is the Almighty, the unequaled Number One in the Universe, exempt from the passing of time. The fact that he is the One keeping our futures hidden ought to be enough to quell our questions. But it usually isn’t. Our lack of future-knowledge leaves us edgy and dissatisfied at the start of a new year.  How are we supposed to plan ahead or be ready for emergencies if we don’t know what’s going to happen?

Maybe a more important question is, “A year from now, what will I wish I’d gained from 2014?” For me, it’s the blessing of God, no matter what that looks like. Psalm 111:10 says, “The good life begins in the fear of God. Do that and you’ll know the blessing of God.”  (The Message) And isn’t that what all of us want between January 1, 2014 and January 1, 2015? The good life and the blessing of God.

If a good life begins with the fear of God (acknowledging that he’s #1 and is the only Person controlling everything), we can start on securing it right away. And if we need more specifics than that, he’ll agree to let us have them…. 12 months from now.