Welcome to 2018. Having completed our annual journey around the sun, we begin again. There is something refreshing about new beginnings; the laying down of the old and embracing the new. January is such a beginning; the year ahead a blank slate waiting to be painted and a new chapter waiting to be written.
At home, the Christmas decorations are all down. At work, we are wrapping up the business of 2017 preparing for the year ahead. This annual transition is a vivid example of new beginnings though there are many others. There are the exciting ones, like getting married, the birth of a child, the launching of a business, and the start of a new degree or a new job. And there are the difficult ones, such as the death of a loved one, a bitter divorce, a bad diagnosis or the loss of a job. Some beginnings we choose and some are thrust upon us. Others happen regardless of our will or choice, like the changing of the tides, the seasons, and the calendar.
Here we are at such a beginning. There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” For some reason, the first steps are always exciting and they are usually the easiest. As journeys continue, and we venture further from the start, we can lose momentum, direction and worst yet, we can lose heart.
God knew we needed new beginnings and fresh starts. Our shared humanity bends toward failure. And no matter how gifted, talented or successful we may be, we will eventually fail in some regard. Winter has just begun and though it’s dark and cold lay ahead of us, that’s okay. It is a season of rest and renewal. It is a season of letting our roots go down deep providing stability for the the days ahead. And it’s a season to remember that even in the dark and the cold, the promise of spring lays just ahead of us.
New beginnings are God’s idea. They are His gift and His provision. In fact, new beginnings are what God is up to. Revelation records God’s declaration that “I am making everything new.” (Revelation 21:5 NIV). Jesus also referred to the renewal of all things (Matthew 19:28) and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:10). And we have all been partakers of the promise that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23).
This January, here at the beginning of 2018, I encourage you to celebrate new beginnings. Don’t look at the past and dwell on shortcomings and failures. Know that God is offering a new beginning and a fresh start. He always does. He sends the days and the seasons to remind us, as well as His Word. Don’t quit on whatever dreams He has placed in your heart. Remember, as George Eliot said, “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” Today, begin again.
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot