A new year, 2016, a time for new beginnings.  A time to let go of all of those things that have held us back or have made us not be able to live up to our full potential.  A time to start a fresh and take up good habits, leaving the bad in the past.  I have to admit that I am terrible at New Year’s Resolutions.  I usually do wonderful for the first 3 weeks, and then the enormity of keeping up my resolutions for the entire year hits me, and I end up quitting.  And I know that I am not the only one here.  The amount of people that fail at their New Year’s resolutions is staggering.  The problem is the past… it can keep a strong hold on us, and it is hard to let go so that we can move on into a more fruitful future.

Isaiah 43: 18-19 tell us “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”  As people who love God, we are to be forward lookers.  We need to let go of our old selves and remember that we are new creations in Christ.  Yes, there are things in the our past that are hard to let go of,   past sins, past hurts… and yet God wants us to let all of that go so that we can be more fruitful and filled with love and hope.  So this New Year, let us be a forward looking people.  Let us forget the past and look toward to the future and what God has in store for us.  Let us trust God, a God who loves us beyond what we can ever understand, and let us remember that no matter what this year brings, God will be with us every step of the way.