We just watched the ball drop in New York on the news and we celebrated for the second time "Happy New Year!" There is a 13 1/2 hour difference between India and the U.S. and so we already slept through the night before 2006 arrived in America.
I love the feeling of a new year. There is a sense of fresh hope and expectation. Fresh hope, knowing that all of last year and the years before are finished, that like Paul, we press on forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead. We can't change what happened last year but we can live differently this one. I was just reading Psalm 139 and it brought some joy to my heart:
"My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." v.15-16
I love that thought, before I even lived out one day, God had ordained and known all of the days of my life. He sees us and knows us, He knows the way that we take and has plans for our lives. He lives outside of time and gazes upon the sons of men with grace, mercy, and zeal. I want the fullness of destiny that He has planned and ordained for my life. May fresh joy and hope fill our hearts as we look to this new year and all that it will hold.
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom... Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."
Psalm 90:12&14
