I love new beginnings. I’m one of those rare people who actually enjoy moving, not out of any masochistic love of packing or saying good-bye, but because I like starting over. I like the clean, streamlined feeling of having just purged all the extraneous stuff (such as papers and useless junk) out of my life. I like the challenge of working my artistic magic in a new space, creating beauty from an empty page. And I enjoy meeting new people and making new friends without being weighed down with past baggage. I like to start fresh.
This isn’t a sneaky way to announce that we’re moving, by the way. (We’re not.) On my morning commute yesterday, I reflected that a new year has all the good parts of a move without the bad. Now that 2014 has dawned, I don’t have the physical pain of having hauled boxes and furniture up and down steps, nor the emotional grief of having left good friends behind. Instead, I have anticipation for new things to come. I have hope.
We don’t need to wait 364 days to feel this way again. Every day that we walk with Christ can contain the best parts of a fresh start. We can begin the day feeling cleansed. All the junk weighing us down can be purged. Maybe that junk is a relationship that we’ve strained by our careless words. Perhaps we’ve let ourselves drift away from the intimacy we once enjoyed with the Lord. Or maybe we feel trapped by a favorite sin that we find ourselves returning to again and again. Today’s the day to end the cycle and start over.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. II Cor 5:17
Each day is a chance for a do-over. We wake to a blank canvas, free to create something unique and beautiful with our lives that day. Maybe it’ll be messy. And it won’t always be fun. But we can know that God is right there with us.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness. Lam 3:22-23
May you experience the blessings and joy of Christ in 2014!