January is the season of new beginnings, of looking forward with anticipation to a new year and all it will bring us as well as looking back
to see what lessons we can learn from the past one. As one year gives way to another, it is inevitable that our minds turn to that mysterious subject called “time” and the many quotations such as “time flies” or “time is a great healer.” Some will have had a year filled with happiness, new friendships, changing jobs, moving house, marriage, or the arrival of a new baby into the family. Some will have had a year filled with sadness caused by illness and perhaps the unexpected loss of a loved one, but for all of us time will continue to move forward into an uncertain future.

One thing you don’t seem to hear much of today is the old “New Year’s Resolution” as they are not always taken too seriously these days. So should any of us bother to make a promise and then try to keep it for a whole year? We could look at it this way, either we’re satisfied with our lives the way we are, or we’re not. If we’re not, then perhaps New Year is a good time to be thinking of doing something about it and making some changes in our lives. There is no better time to start trying again, to ask God for renewed courage and faith, not only to improve the quality of our own lives, but also through our actions, the lives of those around us.

Let go of the old, reach out for the new
For the past is cold, and the future is due;
Each year holds memories, some happy some sad,
We must treasure the good and let go of the bad:
Make the most of each day, at work and at play,
For the old year is history and the future is a mystery.

(Wishing all my readers God’s blessings in the New Year....... Ken.)