And so this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one’s just begun”. Those are the words of John Lennon’s Happy Christmas War is Over, from 1972.
Whether you’re a fan of John Lennon or not, I have always thought those words give us an opportunity to think about what a New Year means. January can be a strange month – a quieter time after the excesses of Christmas, a bleaker time outside, and often a time when payday seems so far away, after our December salary is often received earlier!
A New Year is an opportunity to turn the page (quite often, literally) and start again. Many of us make resolutions to do things differently: diet, exercise, more time to devote to creative things and family etc. The truth is that many of these resolutions can fall at the first hurdle, or when our willpower does.
There’s quite a bit in the Bible about God making things new. God says it about himself in the book of Revelation “I am making everything new!” (Rev 21:5). Whilst God is well-known for being creative – you only have to read the Genesis creation accounts for that – we may not think that he is interested in making things new. However, God is more than interested in helping us start again. Whatever is failed, broken or just needs encouragement in us, God can breathe (new) life into us. Through his grace and love, we can start over again.
Surely this is good news, especially for those of us who have tried and given up so many times by ourselves. So this year, may you know experience for yourselves the God who is making all things new, and may you have a very fulfilled and prosperous 2019.
Angela