A New Year

Well, it’s that time of year.  The time to look back on the New Year’s resolutions you made a few short days ago, and see how many of them you’ve kept.  It’s an annual ritual, is it not?  In fact, it is the breaking of the New Year’s resolutions that seems to get more attention than the resolutions themselves.  There’s almost a perverse glee in the fact that it is a rare occurrence when someone is able to keep their resolution all the way through February.

So, I wanted to go a slightly different way with this ritual and instead, encourage you to try again.  If you’ve fallen short of a resolution, or didn’t even make one because you feel they’re just impossible to keep, try it.  And if/when you fall short try it again.  To whatever daunting resolution may lie before, with whatever negative history you may have with it, give it a chance, give it your all, and give it your best.  Especially if you’ve already been unable to keep at it this year.  Consider this your permission to try new, with a clean slate.

The word we use in the church for this is Grace, and it’s a wonderful and powerful word.  Grace means forgiveness.  Grace means hope.  Grace means, when you fall short, when you miss the mark, you are still loved.  It is the central theme of the Christian faith – Grace, and it is one we need to hear every year.  You see, the whole reason Jesus came into this world was because people like you and me kept failing.  We kept falling short of perfect, we kept messing up on our goals, our resolutions, on everything.  And so Jesus came to give all of us grace.  To say, you don’t have to be perfect.  You just have to be forgiven.

It’s a powerful message to hear, and one that we desperately need to hear again and again.  So, in your life, I encourage you to know and hear grace.  If that’s related to something like a New Years resolution, then fantastic.  Don’t beat yourself up about failing, know grace instead.  Know that there’s nothing stopping you from trying again.  And perhaps that will lead to something far greater.  Perhaps knowing grace in something as small as a New Years resolution will help you know that Jesus offers a grace far greater, and far more life changing to you every single day.  No matter where you are in life, no matter how short you think you’ve come, there is grace and forgiveness for you.   With good news like that, can anything be so bad?  And with that, I hope you all have a very, Happy New Year!

Bill Walles