Hope for the Future

It seems that the older I get the quicker each year goes by. I hear this is pretty common. So, as we've entered another year on the calendar, I've been thinking about it's significance some. Every New Year's Eve is quite a big deal. Technically, it's really no different than any other day. One Winter's day flows into the next. But psychologically there is something very different about it. At the stroke of midnight we don't just change days. We enter a new year, sometimes a new decade, and for the fortunate few of us in history that get to experience it, a new century or millennium as we did in 2000.

As I've been pondering what the big deal is I've realized that starting a new year symbolizes a fresh start. No matter what happened in the previous year - how many diets we stopped and started, how many resolutions we broke, how many times we blew it and fell down - the slate is wiped clean. We get a fresh start when the calendar changes over. We are optimistic at the prospects of what the new year holds. We are filled with hope for the future. That's a beautiful thing.

The more I've thought about this though, I realized something. As a Christian, every day is like New Year's. My heart is flooded with scriptures that confirm this.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:22-23".

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! - 2 Corinthians 5:17".

" 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. - 2 Corinthians 6:2".

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. - Isaiah 43:25".

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
- Psalm 103:11-12".

How exciting is that? I don't have to wait for New Year's Day to start fresh and new. I can live every day that way. What happened yesterday is history. Heck, what happened 5 minutes ago is history. No wonder God told us to always be rejoicing. That's something to really get excited about.

So, as I enter 2009 I resolve to make no resolutions. LOL! Really, the only thing that I am going to focus on this year (day by day by day) is spending time with my Father and letting Him fill me with His love and hope that every day is going to be the best day of my life. And no matter how many times I fall, I know that He's there to keep helping me back up. All I really need to do is stay on the wheel and all these resolutions that I have failed so miserably at in the past will automatically begin to fade away as I am changed into His image. I think I can handle that!