A New Year, A New Decade—So What?

A new year and a new decade on the calendar, but why do we make that such a big deal? Commercially, it is a money maker. But how many people sit home alone to watch the crystal ball drop in time square on TV? Better yet, how many stay home and go to sleep more or less on their regular schedule? It’s just another night and another day, right?

A New Year combined with a new decade feels like an especially strong invitation to start over. Each new year invites us to New Years Resolutions. With opportunities for 10 of those a decade it can begin to feel hopeless since the vast majority of us do not follow through. I also know a lot of people who have faced incredible loss in 2019, often on many fronts. For me this past decade has been one of tremendous transitions.

So when we consider the contents of an entire new decade, that really feels like we have permission to close the book on the old to begin a new one. All of this is from our finite perspective. Here we are, tethered to physical bodies, being in one place at a time, one moment at a time. We have no power over the past and not a whole lot more to say about tomorrow. It is a temptation for many to agree with Jeremiah. “I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.” (Lamentations 3:20)

But Jeremiah does to stop there. He continues…

 “Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.” (Lamentations 3:21-25)

No matter what we go through, emphasis on through as opposed to staying, hope is always available to us. Every morning brings a new opportunity to begin again. Leaning on the strength, mercy and faithfulness of the one who made us offers eternal hope.

“For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. (Lamentations 3:31-32)

Yes, a new year and a new decade can make us feel good for a few days, but the real power to walk through life is in the Love of God for us. This love is always offered, we only need to receive it, every morning, or anytime of any day.