It's a New Year, a new beginning, a fresh start. Excitement fills the air for a better year. What will this year hold for you?
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. How will you choose to live it?
New Year's is one of my favorite times of the year. It's an invitation to dream, to set goals, to take new adventures, and to reach for the sky. It's a time to reflect on the year that's gone by and reset, recharge, and reignite with the same passion you started with the year before.
Yet, 2020 was unlike any other year. Fear quickly filled the air with the unwelcome entrance of a pandemic? How many layers of uncertainty would it uncover? Depression and isolation. Economic insecurity. Deprivation of social gatherings, including religious assemblage. Twenty-twenty soon became a battle field. It delivered disease, famine, social and political unrest, loss of freedom, and for some, despair.
The thrill of a New Year quickly vanished and became the year that was lost. A week turned into a month and a month blended into months with the inability to hold holiday celebrations, summer festivities, wedding preparations, or vacation dreams.
Still, a New Year brings hope over the horizon that beckons us to take the torch and cross into new dreams and seize the opportunities that await us. Oh, the possibilities! This is what the New Year holds. We are going into 2021 stronger than we were before. We have an opportunity to learn from the previous year's experiences and to take the good to become a better version of ourselves.
What did 2020 teach you?
Maybe you are a better spouse, because you learned to navigate the unstable terrain.
Maybe you're a better parent, because you learned to be patient with your children.
Maybe you're a better boss, because you learned to communicate better with your employees.
Maybe you're a better brother, sister, neighbor . . . and reached out to those that were in need, lonely, or hurting.
Every day we get up and we get to decide who we are going to be and the person we want to exemplify. What will you choose today?
Optimism over negativity,
Faith over fear,
Staying stuck or moving forward,
Love over hatred.
Today is the day to look despair in the face and stand with the hope a New Year brings.
Be strong and let your heart take courage. Psalm 31:24
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