Today is December 27, 2020 and it is 8:01 in the morning. I am listening for the twins to wake up while having a cup of coffee. For these few moments I have the house to myself and it is so quiet that I can hear the echoes of conversations and laughter left over from a week of Christmas celebrations and it’s time to do a little thinking about the past week, Christmas, my birthday, and the upcoming New Year!
A birthday is a marker, a day to look at the year behind you and remember all the things that have happened in that twelve-month period. Maybe your year had successes, failures, death of a loved one, perhaps an important graduation or even a marriage, and dealing with wearing masks and staying out of harm’s way with the Covid 19 problem.
Having examined it carefully you can then look forward to the twelve months ahead and in looking back you saw some things that need to be changed, some things you might do differently, a chance to start over, kind of like the way we feel on New Year’s Eve. With Christmas behind us we say, “Here we go again”. The celebration that has always come from Times Square, New York City, which was teeming with people celebrating, will look a lot different this year for sure. However, what probably will not change is that everyone will make resolutions and as usual, my own resolutions will have to do with health plans and getting myself more organized!
So, Day 1 of the new year whether it is the coming 2021 or day one of your own birthday new year you say, “What will I do?”
Isaiah 43:16-21 This is what God says, the God who builds a road right through the ocean, who carves a path through pounding waves, “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present, I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?”
There it is! Some of us spend way too much time thinking about things in the past. I know that I tend to think on the way things “used to be” and all it does is to tug at your heart until it drags you down, down, down into the doldrums of depression! I am going to make an effort to spend more time thinking about what I can do to improve myself on a day-to-day basis, trying to stay positive!
An old song says, “Yesterday’s gone, sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine, so help me today, show me the way, One Day at a Time” I think the author of that song must have read
Matthew 6:34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”
Start a new day, week, job, year, whichever applies, on a positive note by deciding that you will not worry about things but take them to the Lord in prayer and remember,
1 Peter 5:6-7 “So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.”
Having started on the coming 363 days till my next birthday with the New Year less than a week away, I intend to do just that, how about you?
Harolene.com 