I was just sitting here reflecting on this holiday, New Years Day.  I asked some questions about it a couple of days ago and it seems that this day is really not that big of a deal to all the people of faith that I am in contact with.

A small group of us were at our church until a little after midnight and we just saw the New Year start with a little fellowship and fun.  It was good.  But it was not like the world celebrates it.  The world seems to think we should usher in a new year with a bang.  Loud, raucous, drunken parties are what I remember from the past, if I attended any.

What exactly is going on in this holiday celebration anyway?  I really don’t know but have some suspicions.  We say we are welcoming in a new year but what is January first really?

It is all about time.  And time is something I have had on my mind for awhile.  What is it?  How does God exist in relation to it?  Is it something tangible and real or just a method of measuring sequence as my friend Heath wrote about?

I am not sure but I think it is actually the last for most of us.  Even if time is something that can be affected by the speed of light or our proximity to a black hole, I doubt very seriously if any of us will ever experience any of that.  So let’s agree for a few moments that it is just a method to measure and record sequence.

So this day is all about newness.  A new year starts.  But, actually, any individuals real new year starts on their birthday, not January 1.  If we really have any resolutions that we think we need to make, then shouldn’t it be on our birthday?  But for people of faith, we have a new birthday.

We became a new creation the day we accepted Christ as Lord, King and Savior and went into service for and with Him.  So shouldn’t that be the date we use for our new year beginning?  Individually, yes, I believe so.  There is no more important day in our lives than the day we were saved.

But all of that is personal.  Someone was born and someone was born again on everyday of the year but we can’t have every day off from work, so we have New Years Day.  And it is a good day to be celebrated as a new beginning because it is the first day of the year in our method of marking time.

Our celebrations of this day are as much about saying goodbye to the old as looking forward to the new.  Auld Lang’s Syne is about saying goodbye and we sing it on New Years Eve.  In each of our lives we are always looking ahead, imagining the future and hoping it gets better.  And we should.  Even if the last year was amazingly good, we believe it can only get better.  And for most of us this past year, 2008, decidedly needs to be better and I certainly pray for that.

So we say goodbye to the past and relish the opportunity to move forward into the future.  We reflect on our mistakes and shortcomings and make resolutions and commitments to do it all differently.  We waste our time, in my opinion.

There is a truth that we often overlook and it is that the future never gets here.  Tomorrow will always be tomorrow.  And what we perceived as tomorrow yesterday is in fact today right now.  We need to live in the now.  We should plan and strive to do better, be better but, if we try more to be better right now, tomorrow will reflect that so much more than all the planning about tomorrow.

My resolution for today is to be a better man right now, to be more Christlike right now, to love more right now, and to contend for the faith more right now.  And that will also be my resolution tomorrow and the next day and the next.  No one knows what tomorrow holds, not even God for sure, so we really need to stop dwelling on it.  (I made that statement so most of you could berate me on my wrong theology on purpose, by the way.  But I really believe it is true.)

Just reflect on this.  The past is gone.  Use it for its educational properties.  The future will never get here so stop waiting and get on with it.

Start living and loving and serving right now.

Happy New Year and I Love you all

Tags: Beginning, black hole, celebration, Christlike, Church, drunken parties, Faith, God, Love, Personal, speed of light, Theology, Time