New Year, New Beginnings

New years are great! Besides getting the opportunity to write 2007 on every official document, letter, email, etc., there's a sense of newness, freshness, chances to begin anew and press into change!

Because God doesn't "work" on our calendar time, He is always ready, every morning, for a "new" start. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and therefore, every day, every moment, is like a "new year's start" for the follower of Jesus!

I bought a dresser today...it was the ONLY one available at the furniture shop across the street from my house, and it was less than 1/2 the original price. I also bought a night table to replace the tottering fold-up "table" I've been using for 6 1/2 years now. I've needed the dresser for a while, but have procrastinated getting anything new, settling for tossing my socks and underthings in the upper cabinet part of a standing wardrobe. Now I have separate drawers for these things...it's all a new experience for me, and they are organized! During the cleaning and organizing process of today, I filled a large garbage bag full of old papers and such, and that from just one room. I tend to hang on to things, but today was clean out and get organized day. The new year is a good time to do such things, and it dawned on me this evening that it's just like God. He's longing to come in and bring in the new, the necessary, and take out the old. He wants His house in order, the clutter removed so that He can pour in all that He wants to in our lives.

Now I have a tangible picture sitting in my bedroom to remind me of this object lesson, and every time I look at my new dresser, I'll think about how God, every morning, gives us a new start in His Spirit, that we can walk anew with Him, in His peace, freedom and covered by the blood of the Lamb, free from the clutter.