Nothing left under our tree but some loose dry needles.
Since we got a live tree again this year it looks like we’re going to have to
dispose of it pretty quickly. Just a
month ago it was green and the needles were supple. Freshly cut from the earth,
it was gorgeous. Now it’s about done in. We can’t keep it over for another
year. Without roots and soil and water it won’t make it. The evidence is there
already. It’s done for.
This year has flown by. Just yesterday 2013 came upon us
with such promise. If you’re like us, there were some great things that
happened this year. And if you’re like
us, there were some not so great and unexpected things that happened. When you open up a new year it holds lots of
wonderful plans and hopes and dreams. But you can’t carry that calendar over
for another year either. Everything written in it is done. That’s the past. It
too must be thrown out with the Christmas tree.
We cannot do one thing about bringing a dead tree back to
life. We can’t do a thing about repurposing
a calendar for another year. We can’t do anything about the outcome of the
months we’ve spent in our lives. Even
though the tree has died, the year has dwindled and our plans have come and
gone, not to be seen again, we can keep the good things for future reference.
We can also look to the not so good events as our record of overcoming the
odds, staying the course and celebrating the victories. We can pack away the
ornaments from the boughs to place them on the new tree, we can catalog those
good times, those precious moments to fondly remember in our hearts and we can open
up a new calendar with high hopes and bright purpose.
I have a bad habit of keeping broken ornaments. I don’t know
why. But God speaks to my heart and tells me to throw out the broken. Discard
the past. I cannot relive it. I cannot bring it back to life. I cannot revive
the year. It’s been spent. Whether I spent it right or misspent any of it is of
no concern now. God says look to the
future. Even the good things - and there
are always good memories, great moments and fond reminiscences – have to be put
in their place. We cannot live tomorrow fully if we’re holding onto the used up
yesterdays. It just can’t be done.
Oh beloved, rejoice! A new year is approaching. In a few short days it will be 2014 and the
calendars will be brought out with clean spaces signifying the clean slate God
gives you each and every day. For you who are dealing with loss, God says this
could be the year of redemption, regeneration and renewal. For you who are
walking through dark hours, this new year holds lots of hope for better days of
health and happiness. For all of you, it
is time to throw out the old and take in the new. It’s a new day. It’s a great
time to ask God to give you fresh plans and renewed purpose.
Regardless of your age, your abilities, your education or
your pocketbook, God wants you. He wants
to take you into newness of life with Him. He wants you to believe Him. To
receive His promises and to live in the light of His Word like never before. It’s
a new day God has given you today and it’s a new year ahead to live it with
gusto and victory. Your life is full of significance because God loves you and
He’s for you! No man can pronounce you
done for. No system can pronounce you obsolete. No religion can say you’re not
good enough. Because God says behold I AM doing a new thing with you beloved!
Blessings to you as you seek Him with all your heart for
that's where we truly live and move and have our being whether it’s the end of
a year or the beginning, He’s with you all the way.
Hebrews 6:18-19 so that by two unchangeable things in which
it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong
encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an
anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within
the veil…
Acts17:28 For in Him
we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have
said, For we are also His offspring. KJV
Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do something new, Now it will
spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the
wilderness, rivers in the desert.
I Timothy 4:10 With a view to this we toil and strive, [yes
and] suffer reproach, because we have [fixed our] hope on the living God, Who
is the Savior (Preserver, Maintainer, Deliverer) of all men, especially of
those who believe (trust in, rely on, and adhere to Him). Amplified
Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as
having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and
reaching forward to what lies ahead, I
press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.
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