Happy new year!!! Can you believe it is now 2022?!

Where has the time gone? Just a few weeks ago we were handing out candy and Christian tracts on Halloween. And a few days ago, we were carving into the turkey at the Thanksgiving celebration. But wait, there was that Christmas white elephant gift exchange with friends and all the family over at your home, including that one uncle who seems to always have a little too much spiked eggnog and blurts out inappropriate comments. Yeah, we just sang the new year’s Auld Lang Syne song and now, there’s confetti all over the backyard, so who’s going to clean that up?

Some people take the start of a new year to reflect on the year that just ended. They will take from it what was good, what worked, what made them grow, what was beneficial to them, and cherish some memories that were made. As well, they contrast the bad events, or negative things that took place during the year. In other words, they begin what many know as their “New year’s resolution.” Some take this time to set new goals for the year ahead, in which you often see the gyms fill up; at least for the first month or so, LoL.

I have met families that have traditions for how they would like to spend the upcoming year, and they can be odd for some of us, but fun at the same time. Such traditions include families setting out their travel luggage at the door entrance of their home so that good traveling vibes may come to them. Some have red grapes set at the dining table, 12 grapes for each of the family members, they each eat together as a sign of good luck: one grape for each month of the year. Yet others set out to work towards a specific goal, get back to school, get reacquainted with that loved one, make new friends, and so on and so on.

One of the things that my family, along with our church body, have done at the start of the year is to begin the year praying right before the clock strikes midnight and the NY New Year’s ball drops. We pray for the Lord’s direction in the year ahead, so that we may stay within His will for our lives. We pray for loved ones who may be ill or going through a temporary challenge. We pray for our country and its leadership. We pray for the marriages in our lives.

“A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

It is great to plan and look forward to how we can improve our lives, but often we take for granted the privilege to seek our Creator, the One who claimed, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…” Jeremiah 1:5

Can you imagine? Before you were conceived, He knew you, He loved you and has as He told us in Jeremiah 29:11, He plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future, Who better to ask for guidance than the one who is interested in His best for us and knows us better than we know ourselves? Think about it, imagine your 5 year old child saying to you, not asking, simply saying “hey mom/dad, this year I will be going Scuba diving.” Or “I will start investing in the stock market,” you’d probably sit him/her down and have a talk with them about the possible dangers. Well, our Lord wants to do the same with us, He wants to help us avoid the pitfalls of life.
So no matter what your tradition may be, take time to pray for your loved ones. Take time to seek His will for your life. Consider the needs of your family and those who regularly surround you. “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13