FIRSTS!

Well… it looks like winter is finally going to catch up with us out here in Oklahoma.  We had a very mild and some might say warm fall… but alas… plunging temperatures with the accompanying winter mix are all a part of the forecast for the beginning of the new year!  

So, I guess, as my mother always said… much to my chagrin as a kid… “All good things must come to an end.”   But… I don’t know how you are feeling, but I am sensing that new and maybe even better good things are in store for 2022!  Who out there will agree with me?

When Fiver and I were out earlier this morning taking what will be our last morning walk of 2021, I couldn’t help but take notice of all the extra boxes and assorted discarded items that many of my neighbors had piled next to their garbage cans that were set on the curb for today’s weekly pickup.  But then it dawned on me…

This is the first pickup since Christmas!  So, with that in mind, and knowing that the New Year starts tomorrow… I thought that it was quite apropos as a visual reminder of the familiar saying, “Out with the old and in with the new!”

I have always tended to get excited about the start of a whole new year!  I may not be one to party and cheer in the new year when the clock strikes midnight, but I do get enthused about the fresh beginning each January first promises to bring!  For some reason this year seems extra special for me.  It will be the beginning of the fourth full year since Piper’s homegoing.  This last year has been a year to catch my breath and somewhat settle into my life without her.

I am enthusiastically looking forward to 2022 as being a year to move forward and establish many new FIRSTS in my life.  Luke 5:26 tells of the reaction that came from a group that had gathered to listen to Jesus and witnessed a miracle that came as a response to receiving party’s faith.  According to The Message Bible,

“The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, ‘We've never seen anything like that!’" 

Did you catch the sense of awe-struck excitement that captured the people’s hearts and minds?  Read it again,

“The people rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then also gave glory to God. Awestruck, they said, ‘We've never seen anything like that!’" 

That is what I am EXPECTING in 2022!  I am planning for a lot of FIRSTS in my life throughout the entire New Year… how about you?  Won’t you join me in EXPECTING many new, better, seemingly miraculous things from God in your life starting tomorrow and lasting for the next 364 days?

All it takes is personal commitment, dedication and consistency in your personal faith.  Just remember that Hebrews 11:1 tells us that,

“Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot (yet) see.”   (God’s Word ©) 

And that Hebrews 10:17 declares,

“faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”   (EMTV)

So… YES… I am excited about this New Year of 2022.  I am over-the-moon to see and hear about all the spectacular things that our heavenly Father has in store for you and me!  In fact… I’m so excited that I may even stay up until my Bulova Pendulum Chiming Wall Clock in the living room melodiously rings in the New Year!

How about you?  Are you excited to personally witness some things that you’ve never seen in your life before?

I pray that each of you have a blessed, safe and EXPECTANT New Years!

 

-       Jim