Behold, The New Has Come

2020 is gone.

2021 is here.

Our phone calendars are letting us know that these changes happened.
Our new Planners (if you are a Planner/Diary person) are waiting for us to fill them up with the details of the year ahead.

We all had high expectations to celebrate this day and we wanted to close the year with a big BANG but what we encountered was a big FLAT New Years Eve packed with restrictions of what you can and cannot do.

But, you know what? No human being can stop TIME -they can try but they will never succeed- because only God, Our Lord, has the power:

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Apocalypse 1:8.

…

So the New Year came. It doesn’t feel any different. I am actually feeling more tired having to cope with the lack of sleep, and with toddlers, who are also tired of coping with the lack of sleep with a major routine shake up.

On the 31st of December, after putting my kids to bed late, my 10 month old baby wakes up at 11.45pm scared with the noise of fireworks. I hold him and cuddled him.

11:58pm and I am in a dark bedroom, holding my baby tight in my arms, having muted my phone but staring at the Live Facebook broadcast of the Harbour Bridge fireworks about to start…

11:59pm: I’m staring at my New Years Eve partner (baby) who is nicely and systematically breathing heavy on my chest, relaxed. In a split of a second I remembered being heavely pregnant on NYE 2019 wondering what 2020 would bring. We all know now what brought us, but in my case, it also brought me a beautiful and healthy son…

12:00am: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Fireworks are heard in the background but not loud enough this time so my son is still sleeping…
After a few minutes, the famous and highly known transfer from arm-to-cot was done successfully.

12:08am…
12:10am…
12:25am…

Nothing has changed.

We put so much expectation on our minds of what the New Year will bring but life doesn’t change magically by a digit, because that it’s ALL that it is: 2021 it is just a number change.

What has to change is our hearts, by bringing it closer to the ONLY one that this Pandemic has managed to separate us from: GOD.

Don’t put to much presure on your shoulders mumma! You are there, in the trenches: feeding, cleaning, healing, yelling, praying, crying, laughing… we are there in all that. But GOD is there too with you and when you do what you do for the love of God, you are doing God’s work on earth. Don’t doubt it.

Our Lady and St. Joseph raised Jesus as we are all trying to bring our kids too. The Bible doesn’t talk about nappy changes, sleepless nights, teething pain, tantrums, mispronounced words, discipline, games, laughters… etc… There is a silent of Jesus first years, those years that US as Mums need to hear because we are there, fighthing the exhaustation, the stress, the pain, the sadness, and the emptynes of the absence of God in our hearts because we keep Martha in our heads but forget Mary in our hearts.

We DO know Our Lady went through all the normal developmental stages of Jesus growth. They all happened!! While Jesus was growing the Bible mentions a few activities and circumstances that occurred in Jesus childhood mentioning that Mary “kept in her heart” some things Jesus said or did.

“And Mary kept all these things in her heart” Luke 2:19

I understand so much more now this phrase. It is so deep, so beautiful and so heart lifting… she kept all that in her heart because it is there where the prayers to God comes from and it is there where God comfort us.

…

I don’t know what the future prepares for our kids but Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, did know what would happen with her son… and, still, she took on the mission, she stood by his side quietly until the end when she sees this baby, not so baby anymore, innocently killed by the worst death possible: the cross… I can cry more now watching the movie “The Passion of the Christ” because I can deeply feel the silent and brave pain and love of Mary. Oh how strong Our Lady was… how strong!!

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

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My Prayer for you:

To the one who had a rough year:
may God bless you.

To the one who lost someone:
may God comfort you.

To the one who miscarried:
may God console you.

To the one who’s stresses are overflowing her heart:
may God carry your burdens.
Hand them to Him.

To the one who feels blessed:
may God received your gratitute prayer.

To the one who feels abandoned:
may God show His mercy to you.

To the one who is scared of 2021: Never forget that God created this world and it is only Him who will destroy it and His Mercy is great. May our hearts seek Him and find Him.

I don’t know anything that happens in heaven like my son doesn’t know what is happening around him. All my son knows is that if he calls me crying or smiling: I’ll be there for him. And what I also know is that, when I cry out to Our Lady praying the Rosary or talking to her, she will also be there…

…

“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14.

“For you are God, my only safe haven” Psalm 43:2

“The old had passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021!!!

Love,

Liza, a Maronite Mum.
January 2021.