Another New Year

This day is another beginning of beginnings.  Hmmmm.......let me try that again.  We begin again today another beginning.  That's not much better is it?  What about this.....On this beginning day we begin again with another beginning.  For some reason, none of this sounds quite right.  After all, why is today any different than any other day?

The words of Solomon from the book of Ecclesiastes come into my mind.....

¹ The words of the Teacher,^[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem:
² “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
³ What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?
⁴ Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
⁷ All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.
⁸ All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
⁹ What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
¹¹ No one remembers the former generations,
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.

Today is just a place to begin counting again.  We count so we can keep track of the days and make note of those of significance, yet in the long run, very few really have any special meaning.  Everything is connected.  Events are cyclical.

I don't really mean to sound mystical in my view of the passage of time, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is life-shaping events that are meaningful, not dates on a calendar.  It is those things that make us who we are that matter. 

Many people consider the first day of a new year as one in which to begin something new -- a resolution -- to become a better person.  I think we should face each day with that attitude.  If we would choose one thing that would be an improvement and work diligently to implement it into our life until it became habit and then choose something else and so on, we would each improve -- no matter what time of year it happens to be.

Ultimately though, there is only one thing that matters and that is our relationship to God.  Until we know Him we can never truly experience meaning in our life.

Just my thoughts to start this new year

Chris