Today is the last day of the year.  On television, there are many stations who do a “Look Back” on the year and the best and worst of the year.  This look back may seem to be tedious but it does some valuable things.  We know that the new year will not be quite the same as the old one.  We see the good that happened in the last year.  We can evaluate the bad and put it to rest.  We have hope for the coming year that in many ways we are renewed and become different, better people.  The New Year is an opportunity to start something different, to be God’s people on a different scale, to remember forgiveness and start over with a clean slate.  Today take a look back, with an eye to the fresh, to the different, to the better, to the New Year and all its glorious possibilities.  May God give you grace and peace as you place past failures aside and embrace past successes as building blocks for the New Year.  Read Isaiah 42:1-9 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Pastor Ed