Thoughts on a New Year

 

It's that time again! A new year. Time to take the old calendar off the wall and hang a fresh new one. Time for fresh clean pages the planner. It's time for a fresh start.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me this last year just flew by! Maybe it's a sign of getting older, but I can sometimes hardly believe how quickly time passes. Yet here we are again at the beginning of another year, and it's that time again - time for New Year's Resolutions. You know what I mean. We have convinced ourselves we need to make those ridiculous promises, the ones we make every year but never keep. Things like "I will lose 50 pounds by Friday" or "I will never allow anything chocolate to pass my lips ever again", or some other equally unattainable promise that will be broken before a week has passed.

Have you ever noticed how resolutions are often vague? I need to do better. I need to lose some weight. I need to spend less money. I need to read my Bible more. With all that vagueness, how can we ever know whether or not we have actually accomplished anything?

I am not a fan of New Year's resolutions. I am, however, a fan of setting goals and then determining a way to be accountable about those goals, with benchmarks so I can periodically mark my progress. That works much better for me than those pesky soon-to-be-forgotten resolutions. One goal for this year is focusing on health and good nutrition, with a plan in place to reach my goals in those.

As we begin 2025, I've been reflecting on the past year. I’ve been doing a lot of pondering, thinking about what I learned about God this year. About ways my faith has grown. About how disciplined (or not!) I have been in my Bible study. I'm pondering what God has done in my life this last year. And, to borrow a phrase from a familiar hymn, I'm pondering anew what the Almighty can do. 

A new year brings fresh opportunities to see God at work. To grow in my faith. To "discipline [myself] for the purpose of godliness." (1 Timothy 4:7) 

What about you? Have you thought about goals and plans for the new year? Having a plan in place, especially in the area of Bible reading, helps you stay focused. If you don't have a plan, there are a number of good plans available. I encourage you to read Scripture each day. Don't limit yourself to reading a devotional book. Read directly from God's Word. Read what God has to say, not just what others have written about it.

One of my favorite devotional books over the years as been My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Year after year I return to this book. This year I’ve traded in my well-worn paperback copy for a brand new leather-bound copy. And year after year, as a new year begins, I am drawn to this particular passage of Scripture, the passage with which Chambers begins the year:

".....my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death."  (Philippians 1:20 NASB