New Year's Resolutions

 Happy New Year!

I know I opened my newsletter last month with those same words.  Then we were recalling that Advent begins the new year for the Christian calendar, but the New Year most of us are familiar with is the one that is marked by January 1, and the celebrations that take place the night before.

My family has traditionally used New Year’s Eve as our Christmas celebration.  My folks come sometime in the early/late afternoon, we open Christmas presents, have dinner, play games and eat snacks the rest of the night while the kids watch tv.  Eventually, someone will note that it’s almost midnight and we gather around the tv, watch the ball drop, hug and kiss, say goodnight and go to bed.  

Now, I have to say this time of year is probably one of my favorites because in the final few hours of the year, I imagine all the possibilities of a brand new 365 days laying out like blank sheets of paper all waiting to have their story written.  Will it be a year of joys and successes?  What sorrows will be had?  Will we keep some of the resolutions we have made?  Will this be the year when Christ comes?  And there are probably a million other questions about the possibilities that the new year will hold.

I wonder, “what are your resolutions?”  I make one resolution every year and I hope it’s been one that I have actually kept.  Did you know people make resolutions they don’t keep?  One resolution I make and I invite you to make with me is to know Jesus Christ better this year than last year.

If Jesus really is our best friend, isn’t He worth the time it takes to get to know Him better?  Friends spend time together, they hang out together, they find ways to connect, they listen to each other and they share with each other.

James writes to the church and in his fourth chapter he says, “7 Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. 8 Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can’t make up your mind.” (CEV)

No one knows what 2020 will bring, but no matter what it brings, let us come near to God!

From my heart . . .