New Year...New Hope

Normally I’m not a huge holiday person. I don’t get supper excited about them. My Birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas. They’re all nice days with some meaning, but they’ve just never seemed to light up my mood as it seems to do for so many others.

I would like to think that I am not the only one who feels this way, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I was.

Holidays have been over exaggerated in our culture for as long as capitalism has been around. The essence of what these holidays really mean have been drained from those few special days of the year, like a taxidermist drains the blood of a beautiful buck to stuff it’s remains to give a false appearance of the beauty it once had.

Yeah, that’s a little morbid look on holidays, but they just never seemed to matter that much. I mean everyone enjoys seeing their family and spending time with them, but shouldn’t we be happy to see them even if they don’t give us a pretty present or money because that’s what (we think) they’re supposed to do on that day of the calendar.

I don’t know it seems that people only think of stuff like that around certain times of the year. Maybe if we made a few more simple gestures towards the people we cared about when turkeys aren’t in the oven and trees aren’t being decorated, we could finally remember the true meaning of all of those days and why they really are special.

Something different happened to me this year. Something unexpected.

New Years is nice and all, but it’s never been a big deal. The main reason I like New Years is because I am always grateful for God getting me through another year and blessing me with the one to come.

Let’s be honest, you have to wonder why he puts up with some of the stupid things the human race does. I guess that’s a snap shot of Divine Love…the fireworks on New Years after midnight.
This New Years eve I was watching t.v. with my mom and TBN was showing their highlights. I don’t really watch TBN but I liked watching the highlights, because they showed some clips of their guest who have had God move in powerful ways in their life. I just found that so moving. A sense of genuine hope and excitement was filled in my heart. It’s one of the few holidays that I can remember that I truly experienced to the fullest.

I mean the fullest of the spirit of the celebration. I’m not talking about the cliché “this is what it’s all about” with the ugly sweaters, huge meal, and colored eggs. I mean really understand this is how you should feel about a new year.

I wonder if that will attest to what 2009 is going to be like. I hope so, and I hope you feel it to.

I hope you have a blessed New Year.