Here's to new beginnings

    I am somewhat anxious as I begin this new venture ..yet I begin.  I thought about and prayed about a blog for a long time and finally decided to stop thinking and start doing.
It is my goal to center this blog around trying to live a Christian life in our world today.  It is not because I am a Bible scholar; because I certainly am not.  I simply want to do a little better every day and to grow closer to the Lord as I go.  Sometimes I fail miserably.  But I do like to think, to analyze and reflect on life and to take every day events and use them to make a spiritual application.  Writing helps me do that - it is an encouragement for me to "think on these things."  Maybe I can encourage others along the way ....and so I begin. 

     And what better time is there to start than the first day of a new year?  Why is the New Year a cause for elaborate celebrations for so many people?  Well some probably see it as a chance to party in a big way or to take a day off from work.  But I think for many folks it goes much deeper than that.  It is the chance to start new - to forget and let go of our mistakes.  For many (including me) the start of a new year brings hope and promise.  It is the chance to begin a new journey or kick a bad habit.  I think God is the inventor of new beginnings and second chances.  We see this over and over again in the Bible.  God's word is full of stories of people who started over with a new way of life or who got a second chance; Rahab, Samson, the woman caught in adultery, the prodigal son, Paul and Peter are just a few that come to my mind. 
     Scripture tells us in II Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."  What beautiful words filled with hope and promise!  Anyone who has been baptized into Christ has wiped their slate clean!  A new Christian has a chance to start over - to literally begin a new way of life.  And that is not just for a new year --but for every new day that God gives us!
     As Christians, the Spirit tells us through John -"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, AND the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we decieve ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  I John 1:7-9
     As we walk in the Light and confess our sins - Christ's blood still cleanses us and we have a new chance every day to serve our Lord and to be a light in this dark world.  SO..
let us thank God for our many blessings, including the promise of a new year with new beginnings and for the chance to let "old things pass away."  May we all always seek New opportunities to serve Christ on a daily basis. 

Christ above all things,
Robin