Leave it behind

It is close now. Next year. We will all shortly step over the threshold and into 2007. On one hand it is just another day. True. But we as a community have elected to mark it as "next year." We will leave 2006 behind.

I am still meditating on plans for 2007. No real need to make January 1st a starting point but, a calendar year is a good time to bookend, as is a school calendar year. I am thinking today about what I would want to leave behind in 2006. If I can step over the threshold and leave something behind, what should it be?

Maybe a few pounds, some graying hair, a few wrinkles. Not possible. I will take them, and more, with me. How about the mortgage on my house. Not likely. So what might I leave behind? How about fear of the future and regret for the past? By that I mean anxiety about what might happen next year and uneccesary brooding on what did or did not happen last year.

The future will happen and He holds it in His hands. Have you ever wondered how much of your time you spend trying to hedge the future? If we could "take no thought for tomorrow" we would enjoy and rest in today. He is also Lord of the past, He knows all that has happened and He is the Healer of all hurts. So I can either live with one foot in the future (2008 and beyond) or in the past (2006 and before) or both. Or I can focus on the day at hand and love well now, live for the King now, worship well now and serve Him now.

2008 will come, as will 2009 and 2010. I need not worry about it. Perhaps you might give some thought today to what you might leave behind as you step across the threshold. Blessings for the New Year as you worship Him well on the last day of of our Lord 2006.

"Do not be anxious for anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus"