Beginning Again

Beginning Again

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Where do you stand on New Year’s Resolutions? Are they a part of your journey? Do you enjoy making them? Do they ever work for you? New Year’s Resolutions tend to get a bad name. People joke about breaking them a few days in, and then that’s the end of the Resolution journey. But it doesn’t have to be. Each day can be a new beginning. Each day can have an opportunity to reflect and resolve to embrace beginning again.

In this passage, written to the early church, people are often giving up on a new journey toward God that is difficult for them to walk, and the writer is saying - you don’t have to give up. You can be reconciled to God and to each other, through the forgiveness and grace that we experience in the love of Christ.

If we are in a place of reflection and considering making some changes in our lives – it might help to remember, even as we are resolving, that January 1st isn’t the only day we can embrace new life. And when we take a step off the new path we have chosen – we can choose to embrace that every day is a new gift from God, full of possibilities for reconciliation and love.

Reflection Questions:

1) Is there something on your heart that you want to change about your life this year? Take the time to write it down – putting it into words can really help.

2) Do you have a story you can tell yourself about a time when you decided to make a change and carried through?

3) How can you help yourself remember that each day has new opportunities for change in it? Is there an image, or a story, or a song that helps you remember that?

Prayer: Dear God, Help me to be open to the possibilities for change and growth that are on my heart this day. Amen