Most people like numbers this time of year. How many numbers they want to earn before next year, how many numbers they want to lose before summer, how many numbers they will save, spend, dial, delete, and receive. I hate numbers. Thanks Sesame Street.
Resolutions are as important as steering wheels, but what percentage of our resolutions are dictated by numbers? I would dare to say the majority. I would also dare to say that the resolutions with no numeric value are the ones that will bring us the most joy this year.
Matthew 18:21-22, Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven."
Peter knew that the number seven represented completion. He probably even felt that seven was a generous amount of times to forgive someone. But Jesus responds by saying, the number isn't the point. If you want a number to aim for, try seventy times seven. Because by the four-hundred and ninety-first time someone needs your forgiveness, you won't be counting anymore. You will have learned how to truly forgive someone-keeping no score.
I look ahead to twentyeleven with great excitement. We've been given another journey. And though numbers are a useful fact of life, let's not make them our aim this year. Instead let the love we give and the wisdom we gain become our measure. Let them become our numbers.
