What Does a New Year Mean?

The year 2017 is now in our rearview mirrors, and here we are in the first week of a brand new calendar-Happy New Year to you and yours!! As the year begins, a question comes to mind...what exactly does it mean to be in a ‘new year?’

For many, the word (which I really don’t like, to be honest with you) resolutions, comes to mind. Basically, it means consciously making a decision to do, or not do, something. It could be losing weight, stopping smoking, finding a soulmate or any number of things. One of the reasons I really don’t like them, is that they are intensely personal and don’t usually involve others. While not wrong on its face, I’ve come up with a few of these to think about, that directly involve others:

Resolve…

• To move towards tithing (10% of gross) your income, to your local church
• To be in God’s Word on a regular basis
• To be on our knees in prayer, consistently
• To reach out to a local organization who needs volunteers
• To get connected with serving in your local church
• To make time in your weekly schedules to just ‘be’, without interruption...and finally,
• To have our eyes, ears, heart and mind truly open to what God has for us, in 2018

A relationship with God through his son Jesus is absolutely, intensely personal. BUT, it’s personal first, so that you may grow to serve Him through serving others later. It’s my prayer for you this year that you seek to serve God through serving others. May God richly bless you and yours in 2018!