Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Things In The New Year

As the New Year is about to begin there is a lot of talk about people doing new things and making changes to their lives. Many people make New Year's resolutions in an effort to make positive changes in their lives and in turn make the New Year better than the last year. Although it should be obvious that nothing special takes place between December 31st and January 1st, many people use the changing of the calendar as the point to make a change in their lives.

No one is perfect and we can all find areas in our life where we can grow and develop, but we don't have to wait until the end of a calendar year to do so. There is something about the change of the year that gives people new hope and the belief that things can change and be better. For anyone who is a Christian we know that God has promised to help us and God has given us the Holy Spirit to assist us in our daily lives. Positive changes can be made at any time and with God's help the change can be a permanent one.

Permanent change is another aspect of having new things in the New Year. Many people start the New Year wanting to change and trying to change, but by February some have already made a mess of things and they give up. Or they get sidetracked with things in their life and they lose their focus on the intended change only to remember it later and then feel remorse at the fact that no real change has taken place. The good news is that even if you get off course you don't have to wait until the next New Year to start over again and pick up where you left off.

For any real change to take place in a person's life there has to be a willingness to change; the hard part is to keep going after the initial change is made. Recently I heard about an App for Smart Phones that will remind a person about their New Year's resolution. When I heard that I thought about how God has given us the Holy Spirit to remind us about the changes we need to make and to help us make the desired change. So make this coming year a year of positive change and development with new things in the New Year.