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Happy New Year!
Only 1 day away from a Happy New Year! The excitement in celebrating the passing of time, welcoming in a new year, seems a bit strange when you consider that I am on the far side 70 years. So many celebrations through the years. Watching Mom celebrate by reading the Bible and praying the New Year in. Making resolutions in my 30’s 40’s and 50’s that always began with the dreaded 4 letter word – LOSE weight. Beginning on the 2nd of January, not on the 1st, of course.

The most lonely New Year’s Eve was with a group of high school students, celebrating by playing games and eating luscious refreshments. I never felt so alone in a group. It was because in just a month I would be married and my fiance was not present. That was in 1951.

The passing of time can have a deleterious effect on a person. Hmmm, that word begins with delete. That means the person is slowly being deleted with passing of time? The health, the friends, the money, the taste of delicious food continues to fade away with the passing of time. What is left? Should I feel sorry for myself?

No, the one thing that changes is that love begins to stand larger than life. Love of family and friends become miniscule compared to the love of God. For when all else fades, the love of God becomes a pervading influence. How could I have missed it before when I was younger? The answer is obvious – Life. How much richer is life along the way than when it is lived with a full realization of His love.

I Corinthians 13:12 – Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Does the seeing become gradually clearer as we see Him face to face through the years? When do we truly know our Lord and Savior? Ah, that is so fascinating. There is never an end to truly knowing our Lord and Savior. We cannot comprehend Him with our finite understanding, but each morsel of trust, each morsel of faith grows in our hearts until we are ready to meet Him face to face.

As the generations wend their way across this earth, each must make a decision. Will we follow the Lord?

We just finished celebrating the Lord’s birth. Such an emotional time of remembering memories, making memories, as we realize that God sent His Son to earth because He loves us so much. How sad that such a celebration turns, just a week later, into a time of ‘wake-up’ to financial crisis, world peace crisis (“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests“) and personal misunderstanding of our purpose on earth.

Mother was right, so many years ago, sitting on the floor beside the fire place, with her Bible. ‘Happy New Year’ is a time of self-evaluation and re-alignment with the Giver of Life. Happy versus Joy is bound up in the greeting. Shall we look for surface happiness or everlasting Joy in Jesus?

So, Happy New Year? No, I say, ‘may you find the Joy of Jesus in 2006’.