It's a new year

So what...it's a new year. It is only a day gone by on the calendar. A new calendar I might add. One that has new photos, empty slots and lots of dates.  Some use calendars as an extension of their mind. Ours is kind of like that. When someone calls about doing something, or if we have a free night, we go check the Main Calendar. We also write things on the dry erase board. The more we put dates, times, events in front of our mind, the better off we are to remember, be reminded and show up.
So other than a new calendar and the chance to say no to a few more things in life, what does the new year give to you?  Perhaps the challenge of writing 2017 on your checks, if you still use checks.  Perhaps, remembering that our life is but a vapor and quickly gone.  Perhaps you see it as an exciting canvas to paint and to explore. Perhaps it is an open book, one to read, explore, adventure in and you are pumped.  For many, it's just another day. No new years resolutions, no new exciting plans, no dreams and no "wow- look what I can do this year".  For others, it's the beginning of the end of a relationship, a life, health, family issues and you would just as soon ignore anything new and exciting because you know it won't be in your life.  Your heart is broken, you are angry and frustrated at how you must bear the consequences of others actions...and a new year with a ton of resolutions won't fix that.  
Isaiah 43:19 reminds us, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  So when all of your ideas, plans, or the stuff life has plooped in your lap is far from exciting, dramatic and romantic, take a look at what God can do... Perhaps it's not a New Years resolution for you, but a New Years observation of what God will do.  He is making a way in the wilderness, making streams where it's just dry and dusty and for us here in Minnesota right now, melting the ice that has made every parking lot a skating rink and the horse pastures a challenge.  
So, it's a new year. It's really just another day, but you can make it a new day by changing your perspective to a God will do resolution.  God sightings,  spirit watches, Jesus  get in the middle of my day kind of moments are what will give your heart a gentle nudge and remind you that regardless of the resolutions people make, without God in the middle of them, they are just empty hopes, dreams and broken promises..
Happy New Year- for what it's worth. Happy Old Year with all it's struggles and joys and may the day be ordained with God moments to remind you he is the ultimate resolution; to have a relationship with the creator of all.