I have been around long enough to know and admit that when end-of-year fatigue hits, we tend to disconnect and disengage with one another in an attempt to preserve our emotional energy.  A revered friend of mine recently wrote a beautiful article, equipping readers with Godly insight into ways in which we can thwart this kind of fatigue.  He did not dismiss the existence of fatigue, nor the degree of severity to which it can hit us.  Getting caught up in the crosshairs of this particular F-storm is very real and the content of my friend’s article got me thinking.  Feigning or faking vitality is not the same as thwarting fatigue.  For two weeks I have pondered and meditated on his words which, ultimately, culminated into this reflection.

Truth be told, I found myself caught up in a significantly serious fatigue storm which started building up in late October and finally made landfall in early November.  My emotional energy levels were approaching dangerously low levels and it felt as if all of my attempts at filling my tank, failed dismally.  I did not sign up for any of the hurt which I was experiencing at the time and I wanted to resign from it.  But it is impossible to resign from something for which I have never signed on in the first place.  I looked at all of the verifiable evidentiary proof which substantiated my feelings and it drained my tank even further.  My faith did not waver and my hope was still in Jesus, but my tank remained empty.  I realised that I was attempting to fill my tank with the evidence of what I observed around me and that my eyes were fixed on what I was seeing, instead of it being upon Jesus!

Evidence is not a sustainable fuel source, only the love of God is!

So, at the very start of 2026, here is my heartfelt prayer:

Father God, please fill up my heart with the fullness of Your love and ground my life in it.  Please help me to fix my eyes on Jesus in order for me to live by faith and not by sight.  Please help me to faithfully follow Jesus so that I can reflect Your righteousness, rather than my own pursuit to do the right things.  Please help me to love others in the same way that You do.  In the name of Jesus, my Redeemer.  Amen.

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Enjoy my poem, THE ABC’S OF 2026, and please listen to my beloved son Daniel’s AI-generated song rendition thereof:

Accept what is authentic, Brace for impact and Cash in 2025’s chips.  Ditch old and Embrace new

Fix your gaze, fuel up.  Grab a seat, sit down.  Hitch a ride, buckle up Inside life’s theme park

Jack up the boundaries, Kick down the barriers, Lend a helping hand and Mend the broken fences

Nurture the needy, Observe the obscure, Protect the truth and Question the fake

Repent from wrong, Surrender to Jesus and Trust in Him with Unwavering faith

Voice your heart while you guard it, Watch your soul while you shield it.  Be grounded in Jesus and serve Him With eXuberant Yearning and Zeal.

Chorus:  May your heart be filled with life, love, laughter and love.  May you choose to live, cherish, share and celebrate it.  But in times when you are not okay, that is okay, just remember this chirpy little song, the ABC’s of 2026.

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“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  —‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭38‬-‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“for we walk by faith, not by sight…. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  —‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭7,21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  —Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  —Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”  —Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬