We
have officially celebrated the beginning of a new year. Thousands made the trek
to New York to watch the ball drop at Times Square. Others went to
Pasadena for the Rose Parade and the thrilling playoff game between Alabama and
Michigan while the Longhorns and the Huskies fought it out in New Orleans. Most
of us gathered with family and friends to welcome 2024 with hugs and
kisses. It is time to look forward. To engage the year to come. If our minds are open to new
things, and our hearts are open to God, 2024 can be the start of something
special, a new beginning!
New
beginnings are always exciting: weddings with candles and flowers, beautiful
bridesmaids, handsome groomsmen, laughter, toasts and dancing; the birth of a
baby wrapped in blankets, showered with gifts; graduations with speeches about
dreams and possibilities followed by posed photos that will hang on living room
walls; a new job; a new home. Starting anew stirs our
imagination.
New beginnings are filled with excitement, optimism, and hope as
well as fear, doubt and worry. Weddings are fun but making a
marriage can be hard work. Babies are cute, but raising a child can
be difficult. Graduation marks a significant achievement, but finding a job and
advancing in a chosen career can be daunting.
We
cannot predict our future. Not all newlyweds who leave the marriage
altar showered with rice, petals and birdseed will experience a life-long
relationship of love and fulfillment. Not all babies will grow to
maturity. Not all graduates will find career positions for which
they prepared. But we are all called to something new, something
significant.
God
always calls us forward into new beginnings. He beckons us to leave
the old and familiar to follow Him on a journey of discovery into places we
have never been. He encourages us to calm our fears and exchange our
doubts for faith. He challenges us to trust in Him for a better
future and a better day.
When
God called Abraham, He called him from his familiar home to follow Him into a
strange land. God said, “Go forth from your country, and from your
relatives and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you; and I
will make you a great nation and I will bless you, and make your name great,
and you shall be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:1-2). Abraham’s step
of faith to follow God into a new beginning changed history.
To Isaiah, God said, "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new
thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am
making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isa.
43:18-19). Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone. The new has come.” 2 Cor. 5:17).
My hope and my prayer for you is that 2024 will
be the start of something new, something special. May each of you be blessed, as Abraham was,
and may God make you a blessing to others.
No comments:
Post a Comment