A Fresh Start

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creature;
the old things passed away,
behold, new things have come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB

New Year’s for me always brings a time of reflection and pondering on how my last year went. While I look back I can see many things that made wonderful memories, some good accomplishments, some goals met and projects finished. But as sure most of us can attest to, there is also the struggles, the unmet goals, the things we like to forget we said or did or things that were promised but that we did not do. In year’s past it was the negative things that hit me the hardest. The bald look into all that I wasn’t. It always eventually overshadowed the good stuff.

This year as I was going down the inevitable road of looking back, and all those things that, in my mind, were the negative, came crashing upon my memory, I told the Lord how overwhelmed I was feeling from failures. How hopeless I sometimes felt in coming face to face with all my shortcomings in my daily life. How, being faced with my inadequacies, was so frustrating.

And in the midst of that, the above scripture came to mind. “If anyone is in Christ”. Was I in Christ? Well, yes, yes I was. “He is a new creature;”. Some translations say a new creation. Wow, I’m not the same as I was. “the old things passed away”. I have been made new by the Spirit of God. I’m not the same person as I was last year or before I knew Christ. His Spirit is at work in heart, my mind, and my life. He is accomplishing His work within me. “behold, new things have come” The Amplified Bible says the fresh and new has come.

I don’t know about you but that makes me want to do a dance of joy. What freedom that brings. I don’t have to feel condemned or inferior by what didn’t get done in 2007. God has passed away the old for me. He has made it so I can have a vision and a hope for the future. There is always, each year, things that will not get accomplished, goals that do not get met, but I know, with God’s mercy and grace, I can start the new year, even every morning, with a fresh start with the Lord.

If you’ve been looking and reflecting back at last year and it has been discouraging you, let the words of Lamentations 3:22 – 23 soak into your soul this morning and feel it lift your spirits and strengthen and renew you for the new year.

“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness”