A Brand New Year

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Graeme Wilson in Victory Call

I don’t know when it started, nor am I exactly sure why. But what has become crystal clear to me is—I love New Year’s Day. It’s certainly not for all the hoopla, noise, revelry, etc. Nor do I have any interest at all in participating in the worldly, ungodly celebrations portrayed in movies or television as “the way” to bring in a new year. Nope! It’s more than that.  I think part of my why is in the simple fact that the calendar starts over; it begins again.

Years ago, one of my favorite singers was Larnelle Harris, and one of my favorite songs of his was titled: “I Can Begin Again.”

“Alone again in a crowded room
Cornered by the questions in my mind
It’s so hard to understand
How the life that I had planned
Stole my joy and left me far behind

Though all I have is lost it seems
In the shadow of a dream that used to be
I can look beyond the skies
Deep into the Father’s eyes
And see that there is hope for one like me

I can begin again
With the passion of a child
My heart has caught a vision
Of a life that’s still worthwhile

I can reach out again
Far beyond what I have done
Like a dreamer who’s awakened
To a life that’s yet to come
For new beginnings are not just for the young

I face the dawn of each brand new day
Free from all the doubt that gripped my past
For I’ve found in trusting Him
That everyday life starts again
As I look toward the things of life that last

I can begin again
With the passion of a child
My heart has caught a vision
Of a life that’s still worthwhile

I can reach out again
Far beyond what I have done
Like a dreamer who’s awakened
To a life that’s yet to come
For new beginnings are not just for the young…”

Only in part does this song express how I feel about getting to breathe, exist and BE in a brand new year.

Dear ones, 2016 is here. Albeit, much too quickly, it is nonetheless HERE. We are in it, to live and breathe and move and have our being. May we do it full of fresh and deep realization that God, in us, is our hope, our strength, our song, our peace, our love, our only reason for being alive on planet earth. Let’s purpose to do all we can with all that we are—one moment, one day at a time—for the glory of God and God alone!

Stephanie Dale Paul