Thoughts on New Years

After four days into the NEW year, I'm not sure what's new yet. Everyone is talking about New Year's resolutions, but it seems to me that while the year may be new, the resolutions aren't. It's the same stuff we vow to do every year - usually lose weight, get in shape, and quit eating so stinking much food! Oh well, after all the good food from Thanksgiving through New Years day, will there ever be a time when that isn't one of our "NEW" resolutions? Do you ever wonder why you don't "feel" new on January 1? It just seems that with all the talk and hype about newness, we should wake up that first morning of the year and just feel clean, sparkling, fresh, and...and younger? Not gonna happen. It's the dead of Winter, every network news show does a long and touching tribute to ALL the rich and famous celebs, and a few "real" heroes, who have passed away in the last twelve months, and the "highlights" of the year are mostly disasters that we've forgotten about. It's time to do taxes, shovel snow, stay indoors, and hope all the people coughing and sneezing around you don't infect you with something. Maybe that's why it doesn't "feel" so new!
Okay - anyone who stops after that paragraph is going to say, "Boy, ole Mike is really down on life and not feeling the New Years spirit at all." No, I went to an extreme to make a point. Of all the things we could list to point out how exciting and wonderful it is to be starting a NEW YEAR, - the best thing, I believe, is that God is giving us more time to get to know him and serve him. Did you just assume that you'd live to see 2011? Did you assume that you deserved another year to get serious about seeking God? WONDER OF WONDERS! HE GAVE US AN ENTIRE YEAR IN 2010 AND NOW WE'RE GETTING TO START ANOTHER ONE! How great is that? In Jesus, we are a NEW CREATION every day, and we've already had four more in 2011! Maybe our New Year's resolution needs to be a greater recognition that God makes us new every time the blood of his Son is applied to us - and if I understand 1 John 1:7 - that happens constantly as we walk in the light!
Now that's something to shout "HAPPY NEW YEAR" about !