New.

It’s a New Year, complete with new resolutions, new goals, and new opportunities. With 2020 being such a tough year, many people have been eagerly waiting for 2021. They have expectations for 2021 that it has to be better than 2020. The symbolic transition from one year to the next provides a mental fresh start. The ball dropping in Time Square is like the final period on the last sentence of a chapter that you never thought would end. You turn the page, eager for the beginning of the new chapter. It’s like unwrapping a new gift, it could be anything! New is shiny and exciting, filled with hope and possibility. This chapter, this year, it’s going to be different, it’s our year!

But is that true?

Where is it promised that this new year is going to be any better than last year? Just because it is new and time moves on does not mean circumstances are going to suddenly change, pandemics will instantly be cured, and lives will be restored. New does not guarantee better.

New offers hope.

New gives us all hope for a better future. New is excitement for what could be. New is forward looking. New is filled with potential. New is hopeful. But new is also unknown. New is an opportunity but that opportunity could look strikingly similar to your opportunity from last week or last year. New has equal potential for good as it does bad. New has the chance to be hard, scary, sad, or disappointing. New could lead to failure or rejection. New could end up being better or worse than the old.

But that’s the beauty of the New Year. It is shiny and exciting and all we see is the future we want. It is the one time of year that we do not let doubt creep into our outlook. We almost universally set new goals. We sit down and reflect on the past. We create resolutions and action plans. We treat the New Year like the beautiful fresh start that it is.

I believe we enter the New Year with such hope and excitement because we are better prepared than any other time of the year. We shift our attitude from dwelling on the past and waiting for the other shoe to drop to dreaming of what could be and how we could get there. It’s an inspiring time of year with most of the world reengaging and striving for their own personal Better. For at least a week in January, we have the majority of the population passionately pursuing Better Every Day. It’s glorious.

But new inevitably gets old. New gets scratched, dented, and dull. We drop the new ball, it rolls behind the couch, and we slowly forget it. We settle into what life used to look like, the status quo, the past, the old. Once enough time passes, there is no going back, the new is gone and the old is firmly back. This feeling hurts and we all can relate.

I want to encourage you today, and every day, that new is just a breath away. New does not come once a year in January. New doesn’t always land on a Monday. New isn’t even confined to the mornings. New can show up anytime, anywhere.

New is a choice.

Renewing and refreshing your mind and your outlook is not something that should be reserved for New Years. It needs to be a year round activity. God promises that His mercies are new every morning, but that doesn’t mean you need to wait until 6 AM to ask for His guidance. You can pray anytime of day and He can move in your life whenever He wants. Goal setting feels right at the beginning of the year, reflection and review seems appropriate at the end of a quarter, diets and workouts feel natural to start on Mondays. Think of the opportunities you could miss if you waited until that perfect day to start.

New is an opportunity.

We make a choice to look at a new situation as an opportunity for something Better. There are negative results that could come from opportunities but we cannot restrict our unadulterated optimism to January 1st each year. That optimism needs to permeate our daily lives and how we perceive our circumstances. There is new everywhere, even in the old.

This New Years, I hope that your resolution will be to look for the new in each day. Be consistent about reflecting on recent events and be intentional about learning from your mistakes. Don’t wait for January 1st, a Monday, or even tomorrow to start something new. Always look for the shiny, exciting new pieces in your circumstance. Choose hope in all situations. Set goals, chase your dreams, and be resolute in your pursuit of Better Every Day.