Anybody Ready for Something New?

Ready – or not – here it comes. It’s now 2021! Anyone have any idea of what exactly that is going to mean? Let’s be honest here: none of us can predict the future, much as we’d like to be able to. That doesn’t mean we can’t have something to say about what comes next. And I’m sure we’re all hoping that ‘21 will be better than 2020. Which may not have been the absolute worst year of your life, but I’m willing to bet it was probably the weirdest/strangest/most frustrating – feel free to add your own description(s).

But all we’re actually promised about 2021 is that it’s “NEW”. So, what exactly does that mean?
Whenever I pose that type of question to myself, the first thing I do is grab a dictionary. So, Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of the English Language has the following entries for the word ‘new’:
Lately made or come into being; that has existed a short time only; not familiar; recently commenced. (There were others – I just picked a few).

Those all seem to fit, but they don’t really give us much guidance about what’s coming, do they? And, even if we knew, would it really make that much of a difference? If we’d known about Covid-19, how much would have changed? Wouldn’t people still have become sick before we had a solid plan for treatment? And, if we’d known about the shut-downs that were coming and the subsequent job losses, how many of us would have been in a position to forestall the results? Have you ever had a year that you could look back on without wishing that at least a few things wouldn’t have happened or would have ended differently?

Now, trust me, I was just as ready for 2020 to be over as most of us were. There’s only so much any of us want to, or can, deal with in a short period of time – and 2020 seemed to excel at piling it on. I guess I’m just trying to figure out some ways to prepare (or brace) myself for whatever comes around the corner in this “new” year. I’d like to think I could handle it a whole lot better than I did the “old” one. I’d like to shed a lot less tears, have a lot fewer times of anger and pure, unadulterated frustration, experience more joy, and have peace be the overriding ruler of my soul.

So, here are some things I’m suggesting to myself:
1) Pour the new wine into new wineskins. If I want to look at things differently, I have to have a new looking glass to see them through (Luke 5:38).
2) Ask daily for a new, clean heart – one filled with pure thoughts, ready to please God (Psalm 51:10).
3) Sing a new song – one of hope and thankfulness, instead of whines of defeat and ingratitude. (Psalm 33:3; 144:9).
4) Start each day with new mercy for myself and others (Lamentations 3:23).
5) Fulfill my spiritual hunger by being eager to discover new truths (Proverbs 18:15).
And most of all:
6) Follow that “new commandment”: to love others as much as Jesus has loved me (John 13:34).
So, the final question is: Do I have any assurance that I’ll be able to make this set of suggestions a reality? Want me to be honest?

I absolutely do not! And, there’s probably a good possibility that I’m throwing myself under the bus. But I’m looking at it like this: I can stay the way I’ve been and let the “new” year rock me and my world … again – OR – I can try to take my own advice in the hope that I will be able to rock my world in a positive way in the “new” year. Even if I only partially succeed it’s got to be better than the alternative. And as an extra bonus, I’m imagining my husband will enjoy the improvement!

*** I always ask my husband to read a new post before I put it out there. He read this and came to say, “It’s good – go for it.” He took a few steps away, turned around and with one of his signature grins, added, “Are we printing multiple copies of the suggestions and posting them around the house?” He thinks he’s so stinkin’ cute! But I did have to smile.**