It’s a New Year!

It’s a New Year! A new year brings hope and promise of a new beginning. We could all use a new start! We promise ourselves that this year will be better. We resolve to lay down old habits and begin on a new path. But how long does this attitude last?

When I was a restaurant manager, I would order about 20% less liquor after New Year’s Day. Liquor sales always decline because of all the New Year’s resolutions. How long did this last? About two weeks. After that everything would be back to normal.

Normal. We seem to be enamored with the idea of a “New Year” until it’s no longer “New.” Then we go back to “normal.” Another lesson I learned in the restaurant is that it takes 60 days to change a habit. Some say 21 days but either way it takes some endurance to create a new normal.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1)

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to embrace the race. To run with endurance. Many faithful witnesses have gone before us transforming the world in Christ. They did so by first allowing Christ to create in them a new heart. A new normal. This miracle takes a little time. (Maybe 21-60 days) So go ahead. Hope for a better year. Envision yourself transformed. And move forward in the strength of Christ. Let us create a new normal together!

See you Sunday!
Missy