Happy New Year!!!

I thought it appropriate to begin the New Year with a post to my blog. I know it has been awhile (okay, so a long while) but nevertheless, here I am, ready with a renewed commitment to resume my blogging. Hopefully, this resolution will last longer than my last year’s vow to abstain from processed sugar. Twix, or Sour Patch Kids anyone? =)

Okay, just kidding. I really do have the best intentions of keeping up on my posts.

To be honest, celebrating the New Year has always been an event of mixed feelings for me. Although the opportunity to begin anew and fresh is a welcome prospect, I can’t help but feel slightly melancholy over the things that are being left behind. So while I raised my glass of sparkling cider when the clock struck midnight, there was a twinge of regret and sadness that sat like a lump in the corner of my heart.

I hate saying goodbye. I always have. That in itself is a very strange thing because it is my nature to always look ahead to the next adventure God has for me. But during this season, I allow myself to sit quietly and take a few moments to ponder the fleeting moments that have created this latest chapter of my life.

And do you know what stands out to me during this time of reflection? It isn’t the cute boots that I just had to have. It isn’t the raise I received in my pay check or even the news headlines from around the world. They are the seemingly insignificant moments that involve the people I love. Laughing with my husband to the point I have tears running down my face, receiving a quick loving note from my mom and dad, or spending time in prayer with my girlfriends, these are the moments that grow as a lasting root into the foundation of who I am.

However, with that being said, I sometimes can recall with a shudder the times I really screwed up in the past year. The displays of my temper, insensitivity, selfishness and pride are all things I deeply regret and I wish more than anything I could take back.

I realize it does no good to rehash these things. No good can come from holding on to old sin. That is one of the beautiful things that come from knowing Jesus as your personal Savior. Because of His forgiveness, those ugly marks are erased permanently from my record. I am now beginning to realize that the New Year’s celebration is an amazing picture of this grace. Every morning, I am able to wake up and experience the opportunity to start over fresh and with a clean slate. That is something worth constantly celebrating with every ounce of my being.

I know this year will be filled with some amazing blessings, but it also will feature many of my failures. I am not perfect and I cannot do anything on my own. But because of Jesus, I can say that in a way, all of 2007 was a great year.

In fact, it was an absolutely beautiful one.

Here's praying that 2008 is the same for you.