31 December 2010 ~ 2 Comments

2011…A Clean Slate?

I’ve never been one for making a big deal about the New Year.
I mean, really there’s nothing actually that different from December 31st to January 1st, right?
The earth is still orbiting the sun at the same rate and we just choose to mark a full revolution that day or something, right?

Maybe that’s cause I never had a year like 2010.
More than any other time I can recall, it seems like I have talked to person after person who has had a rough year.  I’ve heard very few people tell me that 2010 was great for them.  I could literally use all my fingers very quickly to count the number of people I know who lost loved ones this year.
This all seems odd to me.  Wouldn’t you think that some would have a good year and others a bad one?

Regardless, I’m coming to realize this year that while nothing changes from December 31st to January 1st, at the same time, everything changes.
There is something about having a set increment of time to look back on, to reflect upon, and to be able to have a fresh start.
As I’ve been pondering this thought, I’ve been struck by the following scripture from Lamentations 3.
Hey…rough year, might as well look at a whole book of lamenting, right?

The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.
I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord. And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline:

Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands.
Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.
Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.

For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.

Lamentations 3:19-32 (NLT)

I also LOVE the way the Message reads.  Was having trouble deciding between the two translations.

Just as the writer reflects on God’s mercies being fresh each morning, this year the same feels true for the New Year.
I’m heading into 2011 stoked about a new start.
I’m stoked that I can see God’s mercies as being fresh as we start a new measurement of time tomorrow.  And I honestly feel like great things are in store for 2011.

So…adios 2010!
You won’t be missed much (OK, it wasn’t ALL bad, so maybe a little…but not much).
And 2011…HERE WE GO!  Have a Happy New Year everyone!  See ya in the new one!

2 Responses to “2011…A Clean Slate?”