The Need for Newness

The new year sneaked in when I wasn't looking. Somewhere in the midst of potty training, diaper changing, dish washing, clutter cleaning, the clock kept turning, bringing the inevitable.

I have always made new year's resolutions and rarely kept any of them. This year I didn't bother, and New Year's Day passed like any other in my life. Why worry about it, since nothing in my life today is any different than it was yesterday? I wake up to the same list of chores, the same routine, the same challenges and fears.

I was wrong. I need newness. We celebrate the ending of the old, the beginning of the new, because we need fresh starts. We need hope. We need to dream, set goals, think about what could be. I need a new journal with fresh, blank pages. I need a calendar with twelve empty months in which to dream and hope and plan.

I need the newness of each day, the renewed promise of a fresh start, another chance.

I am wrong to take newness for granted.

I am wrong not to hope.

I climb out of bed late this morning, greeted with dirty dishes and shouting children and clutter and chaos. Determined to start the day right, I open my Bible randomly.

"O, you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
And great shall be the peace of your children.
In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you." (Is. 54:11-14)

The promises shower down upon me one after the other, breaking in upon all my attempts to be gloomy. My Lord loves the joy of hope. He delights in "wills" and "shalls" and in making all things new.

I will plant my new year's resolutions like seeds of hope, watching to see the faithfulness of God.