It’s a New Year. It feels like they come more and more often. When I was a child, it took forever for my birthday and Christmas to come, now it feels like they come every week. Oh, the joys of being an adult and seeing how fast time passes.

Our societies, especially in generations past and especially in parts of Europe, the Middle East, Eurasia, Asia, South and Central America (I don’t want to speak about Africa because I don’t know the countries and their cultures well), don’t let emotions come out so easily. Being from the US, I feel we are one of the few countries that express emotions openly. Expressing emotions is a cultural, familial, and individual thing. But, they are very much a part of life, something that we go through every day. They are in us and should never be stifled. The key is to not be led by emotions, but rather be Holy Spirit led.

The truth is, emotions let us know something is off balance, or on balance. They protect us, they let us know when we need growth through boundaries, and they can drive us to do something about the world’s injustice, therefore we must lean into them. But, we must be self-aware enough to recognize them, ask ourselves what’s going on with a feeling we are feeling, and take it to God in prayer on what we should do about that emotion. As the Jennie Allen quote states, “They connect us- to ourselves, others, and God.”

The fact is, God has emotions that at times lead Him to feel anger, sadness, to want to be desired by the people He creates, rejection, and happiness, even to fight. Animals also have feelings and they express emotions. Emotions let us know something needs to change, or not change. They’re healthy. But, we can’t be led by them because we’ll get into all sorts of trouble and make unwise decisions that can have long-lasting effects and consequences.

So, this year, let’s not try and push away emotions, rather lean into them and work through them with God and even trusted counsel for a more fulfilling and freeing life, knowing we have allowed ourselves to recognize our emotions. Recognizing them may mean we need to speak up and confront, or just pray, but always pray through them, letting God guide us on how we should handle them.