January 1 begins a new year in the chapter of life for us, just as it closes out 2006. The holiday season is officially over and people can begin to go back to their normal grumpy ways. The spirit of the season comes quickly and leaves the same way...with only the clean up remaining. How nice it would be to have the "spirit of the season" be with us all year long, minus the hectic nature that accompanies it...
Yesterday, my wife and I looked back over the past few years and gave them a "the year of"or "the year that" preface.
2006 - The year of surgeries (4 people/pets out of 5 for our household)
2005 - The year our son left home
2004 - The year that job roles changed dramatically for me and my wife
2003 - The year I changed companies that I worked for
2002 - The year of Dad's passing
2001 - The year of relocation and new beginnings
2000 - The year of auto accidents (4 total, 2 that were our fault and 2 that were not)
I am sure there are more I could add, like our wedding and getting custody of our son, currently the soldier, serving in Kuwait, but these are the most current.
With the holiday season in our rear view mirror, we now look forward to a new year of events to look forward to, many of which are geared to make retailers money. We have St. Hallmark's day in February, "Spring Holiday" in April* and summer holidays (vacations to us Yanks),. Then, once the summer winds down, we start looking toward the harvest season and then the winter holiday season...and the cycle starts over again.
January is the beginning, a new start for us all. For some, this is a good thing. We can put the troubles of the previous year behind us and start anew. For others, it is just another nail in the coffin for them. The clock slowly winds down and all that is ahead for them is despair. For those of you who do not see a bright shining new year ahead...would you like to? Does the thought of looking ahead and smiling rather than grimacing sound appealing? It can happen. God will make it happen. It is not hard, but you have to be willing to let go of your pain and give it to God. You have to admit you are not the center of the universe and that God is in control, not you. Do not let pain cloud your thinking. Look around you. Does this marvelous universe look like an accident? Does all that you can see and all that you know look like a random chance? God made this for us. Acknowledge him in that, ask him to forgive your past sins, ask him to make you a new life. He can do it. I know. He did it for me. Now I am far from perfect, but he works on me all the time. Those who knew me then and who know me now can see I am a new creation. I am not the "old me" that lived in "the bad old days".
*This cracks me up to no end. It used to be known as Easter, but since we cannot take a chance to hurt anyone's feelings here in the United States of the Offended, we now call it "Spring Holiday". Now the reason this is so amusing to me is that the way most Americans celebrate "Easter" has nothing to do with Christianity. So to all you far left wing ACLU types, you are doing Christians a favor when you boycott "Easter". Think about it...what does a rabbit and eggs have to do with Christianity...NOTHING unless you are some misguided soul who wants to tie everything to the worship if Jesus Christ. Just like "Christmas", "Easter" is not about Jesus. If it was, it would be celebrated the same day every year. It is a throwback to pagan culture, mostly with fertility and new life associated with Spring time.
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