The new year is a time when we look ahead to the unknown. And so often, what we want to know about the future is categorical: should I do this, or that? Will you do this, or that? And when we encounter new events, new people, new opinions, new issues, we want to categorize them as well. We want God and people to fit into our categories.

In Joshua 5:13-15, an encounter with a spiritual begin, a commander challenges Joshua’s categories: “No, but ...” No, this is not about whether I am for or against you. This is about whether you are for or against me. I am. I have come. The place you are standing is holy ground.

God does not serve our categories, but we serve him. Our orientation to him, our worship of him, our personal relationship with and encounters with him, are more important than the categorical decisions we get so distracted by and focused upon.

To recognize that something is holy ground is to recognize the powerful presence of God in the places of our lives, and because Jesus has come and the Holy Spirit lives in us, we are now holy people, on holy ground in all the spaces of our lives. How can we remain cognizant of that through all the ups and downs of the next year? What are some practices that tie us in to that reality of holy ground?