2015: trust.
2016: healing.
2017: growth.
2018: discipline.
2019: new.
2020: rooted.
2021: release.
2022: see.
2023: hallowed.
2024: abide.
2025: more.
and this year?
S U S T A I N
I started learning to play the piano three years ago this month, and the goodness that flowed from this new thing was a timely balm for the season I was in. Truthfully, it still is. The music part was natural for me, which wasn’t all that surprising because I’ve been drawn to music since I was just a little girl growing up with a musically gifted extended family. The technicalities of playing, however, have required much practice and humility.
One of the things that was initially quite difficult for me was using the sustain pedal on my keyboard — not so much the “what” (I knew what to do) but the “how.” As in, how in the world can I listen with my ears (heart), keep up with my eyes (mind), make sure my fingers hit the correct keys, AND use my foot to hold out the notes for the appropriate measure — all at the same time?
Like I said, lots of practice and humility.
But I knew how music feels when certain notes are sustained, so I knew it was necessary to learn. And by learning, I gained a deeper appreciation and wider perspective of how something that sounds so beautiful is not always automatically so.
Often times, so much effort goes into things that move us and carry us along. Sometimes, without us even knowing it because the effort is not our own.
So, why “sustain” for 2026?
Because more than ever before we don’t want to be ignorant to how our Lord sustains us in all things. At the same time, we don’t want to rush on from the pain or the pleasure until it is time to do so. We want to experience the goodness of God in the moment of the miracle, not only when we reflect on it in some distant future. We want to let the notes play out and linger as they should and to trust that the Composer knows how they all work together.
This year, I pray that we would not idolize the “next big thing,” but rather allow space for yesterday’s miracles to have lasting value for today, to sustain a contentment in the present.
I pray, too, that we would desire neither a premature release from things we wish were not happening nor maintain a white-knuckled grip on things that simply aren’t ours to hold anymore, to sustain a rooted faith in Christ.
As we welcome a new year with this new day, I pray that we have the wisdom to sustain what we ought sustain and the faith trust our faithful Sustainer with all we lack and simply do not understand.
As with my piano journey, it will require much practice and humility.
But we will be sustained through it all, just as we always have been.
Hallelujah.
Our meditation:
“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”
-Psalms 55:22 (NIV)
Jesus, sustain us as we seek to sustain the gifts You have given in the season we are in.
p.s. Happy new year from NYC!
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