The New Year

January 1, 2009. The day of resolutions. The day of new beginnings. The day everything is going to change, for the good, right?

So when did this whole resolution thing start anyway? The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions dates back to 153 B.C. The two-faced mythical king of early Rome, Janus, was placed at the forefront of the calendar. With the two faces, Janus could both reflect back upon the past and look forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions. Many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year-moving beyond past mistakes and positively reaching toward the future. Sounds good for 2009, don't you think?

Now the actual New Year does not occur on January 1st all around the world, nor has it ever been this way. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. In 46 B.C, the first of January became the beginning of the New Year when Julius Caesar developed a calendar in order to more accurately reflect the seasons better than previous calendars had.

The point is this: January 1st is some day that we have created that provides us with a nice starting point to start something new. It's also become an excuse for us the past few months-a procrastination tool that is commonly well over-hyped throughout the latter months of the year.
Why do we feel like we have to wait a few more days to get started on changes that we want to make in our lives? Something tells me that today, December 29, 2008, is just as good a day to come to God and ask Him to be the Savior of our lives, or to rededicate our lives to our Creator.

I want to encourage all of us to get started right now with any changes that we want to incorporate into our lives. Let's earnestly pray about what the Lord might want us to surrender to Him. Let's earnestly pray that His kingdom will come into our lives here and now, and for His will to be done in our lives. Today is the perfect day for us to let go of the past and follow through with becoming the people we want to be, little by little, day by day.

We serve the God of new beginnings, the restorer of everything that has gone array. We serve a God who is always willing and able to take us back when we come running to Him. He wants all of us right now, not at some manufactured point in the future. I'm sure God isn't holding off until January first to change our lives and the lives of those around us. Why should we?