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| Just as a sunset marks the end of a day, a sunrise - and a new year - mark a new beginning. |
The year’s
about over. For some it provided fond memories, while leaving others with bittersweet
feelings. Still others regard it as, “Good riddance!” They can’t wait for it to
end. How was 2017 for you?
Soon another
new year will usher in. Some will stay up until midnight or after, watching the
huge Times Square New Year’s ball drop at the precise moment, while the rest of
us will head to bed early, trusting the celebrated ball will descend successfully
without our help. But first, there’s a bit of unfinished business with the
current year.
A lot
happens over the span of 365 days individually, nationally and globally. During
this season when we hear so much about peace on earth and good will toward men,
we realize the world remains filled with hate, strife and unrest. Here in the
USA, the new President demonstrated a propensity for letting his fingers do the walking (via social media) whether we
approved or not. In many respects, the societal divide began resembling the
Grand Canyon.
These last moments
of the year prompt me to assess how I’ve utilized the gift of each day and
opportunities afforded to me. Where have I grown as a person? Have I grown?
What mistakes did I make that I can learn from, even well into my seventh
decade of life? What goals, long-term and short, did I accomplish – and what
building blocks did I put in place for future achievement?
Maybe you
ask yourself such questions; maybe not. But even if you do, the time comes for
looking forward. Just as trying to drive while staring in the rearview mirror
is a slow, and sometimes dangerous, endeavor, so is attempting to live life
while clinging to days gone by.
There’s
nothing wrong with revisiting the past, cherishing things we wish to remember
and seeking to learn from things which would be best forgotten – so we don’t
repeat them. Dwelling on the past, however, is usually counterproductive. We
can’t change it, much as we can only anticipate the future. What we do have,
and can affect, is today, whether it’s the final day of the old year or first
day of the new.
That’s why
I love the words and wisdom of the apostle Paul, who wrote to fellow followers
of Jesus in Philippi, “Not that I have
already obtained all this [a life totally dominated by the life of Christ], or
have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which
Christ Jesus took hold of me…. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind
and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).
As a
one-time persecutor of Jesus’ disciples, Paul had much he would have preferred
to forget. But recognizing that through Christ he had become a new man, nothing
like the religious, anti-Christian zealot he once was, the apostle chose instead
to “strain toward what is ahead and press on toward the goal” of becoming more
like the One he once opposed.
The same holds
for us. We all have regrets, things we
wish we could “do-over.” But in Christ, what matters most is not what we’ve
done. He’s taken care of all our wrongs: “God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God” (2
Corinthians 5:21). What does matter is what we’re going to do with today, along
with the days that remain ahead of us.
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