New Year's...

Ah, new year's resolutions...how long do they really last?  And how much are they really worth?  Perhaps, they are only worth as much as you bother to make of them.  Good intentions are all very well, but good intentions didn't build the Eiffel Tower!

Okay, enough trying to sound smart.  :p  New Year's is an interesting time because people tend to look at is as a "clean slate" where they can start a new.  In a sense this is true; this idea makes me think of the line in Anne of Green Gables (the movie) that goes something like this - "Tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it."  This might be the case, or it might not - some issues and / or mistakes need to be resolved before tomorrow can truly be a "new day".  This is true with the new year too - it's not a time that can be used to black out all of last year's mistakes.  It can't forget and forgive all our past wrongs that we've done to others, only God can do that, and sometimes we have to go back to the people we've hurt and ask their forgiveness.  Then tomorrow can truly be a new, clean slate.  God promises to remove our sins as far from us, as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

What does this new year hold for us?  We can't say for sure, only God knows.  There will be trials, through which we can become bitter or gain perseverance.  There may be pain and sorrow but there can also be joy and hope.  When we make mistakes, God offers us forgiveness. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17