Dear friends,

Welcome to 2010!  Where did the decade go?

When people think of New Year’s Eve, most of us picture a big party with lots of horn blowing and noisemaking.  Certainly it is the most famous party of the year.  Perhaps because it follows the stresses of the holidays and it is usually spent with friends rather than family. There is no pressure to exchange gifts and certainly nothing to return except a few bad habits. New Year’s has become like so many holidays in that the marketing grabs all the attention and the underlying meaning becomes the casualty of the celebration.

But have you ever thought about why we celebrate a New Year?

We use time and the calendar in order to define changes.  The difference between a one year old and a two year old is marked by time to describe their development.  So after we are fully developed physically, the years more easily run together.  What really makes 1976 different from 1977?  The minutes have turned into days, which turned into months, which turned into years, which turned into decades. So how do we recognize growth or perhaps our need for change unless we take time to note where we are and what we’re doing? We attended a party, but were we really celebrating life or just another year?

What ever a New Year’s Celebration is—it’s really about hope. It’s hope that motivates us to turn the page and begin again.  It’s hope that helps to reassure us that last year’s mistakes will not become patterns and reminds us that we have control over our lives.

But where does this hope come from?  I think it’s no accident that New Year’s falls one week away from Christmas.  For what would New Year’s Eve really be without Christmas?  The two are inseparably linked in my mind and heart.  Because Christ was born into the world we can be reconciled to God.  Because of his resurrection we have the power for real and lasting change along with the promise of a glorious and secure future. Because of God’s grace we can take a full inventory of our lives with rigorous honesty and confess our wrongs and receive forgiveness before starting a new year. We have a Father to thank with gratitude for every good gift we’ve received and a shoulder to cry upon for the burdens we’ve had to carry. That’s why we can celebrate as we enter a new year.

So instead New Year’s Resolutions, I’m leaning on a New Year Revelation—the celebration of Christmas means that God is with us, and that is good news for every day of this New Year.

Nicole