We sing or hear the words “Auld Lang Syne” every New Year’s Eve, but never think much about what these Scottish words mean. The words literally mean, “Old Long Since,” so the phrase sung throughout the song “For auld lang syne” loosely translates to “For the sake of old times.”
So what are you remembering this last day of 2024 “for the sake of old times”? Perhaps it is a wedding or a birth or anniversary in the past year you want to hold dear in this moment. Maybe it is a job change, a vacation, the ending of a bad habit that you want to celebrate today. As Christians, it is important for us to look back and see the hand of God at work in our lives. God has carried us through each day of this year and has safely brought us to the beginning of a new one. That is a blessing never to take for granted. So whether you sing “Auld Lang Syne” or not this New Year’s Eve, be sure to say with the psalmist today, “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (Psalm 126:3).
On a morning walk while I was in Iowa recently, I passed a large, old, rustic barn that has been preserved along what has become a more modern, suburban road. The stark contrast of this farming structure in the midst of new construction homes made me think more deeply about barns and what they have to say to us as modern-day Christians.
Surprisingly, barns are mentioned several times in Scripture to represent different things.
The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (Deuteronomy 28:8).
Barns are a sign of blessing from God. They store the bountiful harvests of plants that come from God’s creation, and they represent a thriving and established community, which God will give the Children of Israel in the Promised Land.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?(Matthew 6:26).
Jesus describes barns in his Sermon on the Mount as places that birds of the air have no need of because the heavenly Father takes care of them without the birds worrying about where their food will come from. Barns in this case are symbols of buildings that we fret over filling, when we should trust that God will keep us filled, even if our barns may not be full.
Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.”
In the parable of the rich fool, barns represent greed and amassing earthly wealth for our own personal gain. Jesus points out that we should store up treasures in heaven instead of riches here on earth. In the end, gifts of forgiveness, faith in Jesus and love for God and one another are more valuable than anything that can be stored in a barn, which will one day be destroyed.
Be on the lookout for barns on your travels this week, if you are able, and remember the lessons that can be learned from them for our walk with the Lord.
Have you ever noticed in movies that when office assistants carry coffee cups into a building for the staff, you can tell there is no coffee in the cups. The actors hold the carriers too lightly or too freely. If the cups were full, the person would be carrying the cups more carefully and seriously, lest anything might get spilled.
This idea reminds me of how we often carry messages to one another. We can present what we have to say flippantly or with empty words that have no meaning. Or we can carry our words with seriousness and full of meaning. The Bible wants us to know that it is important to approach one another with fullness. St. Paul assures the Romans, “I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ” (Romans 15:29). St. Paul later tells us that we should “be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19).
Consider your approach the next time you come to a gathering of people with news to share. Let what you have to give be full of Christ’s blessing and have the weightiness of God’s outpouring of love. The results promise to be good to the last drop.