There are privileged moments in life where we, in a very special way, are invited to start over. The beginning of a new year is one such moment. Even in our own day, most people have retained some sense of mystery whenever the old year ends and a new one begins. Many will experience this moment of the old changing into the new as an experience of death changing into resurrection. It is an exciting and alluring moment.
“See, I am making all things new,” says God (Rev. 21:5). We must take seriously what is new. We have to trust that God gives us new possibilities … shows new ways … instills a new longing within us. It is a great and beautiful thing that nothing in life has to be stereotypical or a repetition of old patterns and clichés. Our lives can be renewed and are unceasingly renewed.
On the outside, we obviously remain in the same circumstances of life: in the same country, with the same spouse, and so on. But the outer circumstances are not decisive; rather, it is in our attitudes and reactions toward them where we can find continual development and transfiguration.
The fact that God lets us start a new year implies renewal. God does not wish for us to live the new year as we did the old one. He wishes for us to meet him in a new way, and welcome those he sends into our lives.
We are on the way to richer lives.
Source: This is the Day the Lord Has Made, page 2.
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