As the waning hours 2023 tick away, I am reminded why I like this time of year. It gives me hope—hope of something better.
I have read numerous articles highlighting people’s opinions of 2023. The majority of them are glad it is over. Many are saying that 2023 was a challenging year.
The global economy took a skid while the U.S. economy tanked.
Tempers flared while radical hatred openly spewed its venomous poison.
However, 2023 is almost over, and 2024 brings hope that a better tomorrow is approaching.
I know the old insanity saying that doing the same thing and expecting different results will apply in 2024, but today, hope is in the air.
I know the Old Testament proverb that deferred hope makes your heart sick. But, it also says that when the longing is fulfilled, it becomes a tree of life.
For over 400 years, the children of Israel clung to the hope of Father Abraham that God would raise a savior to free them from their bondage. The Egyptian slavery was brutal and had gone on so long that many lost hope, and the ones who had not barely clung to it.
However, a New Year came, deliverance came, and the longing was fulfilled.
I understand that change is also a part of hope. The children of Israel had lived in slavery for so long it had become a way of life. There were generations of people who only knew slavery.
That kind of mindset does not go away quickly. This is (at least in part) why they struggled in the wilderness experience. They could not let go of what they had known their entire lives to embrace the fulfillment of a promise they had heard about—their whole lives.
It would be a few thousand more years before the promised messiah would arrive. When he did, the religious leaders could not embrace the change because he (Jesus) did not fit their interpretation of his promised arrival.
I bring this up to draw attention to our lives and our (often) unwillingness to embrace change because it does not fit what we perceived it would be.
Hope is the anticipation or the expectation that something positive will happen. New hope is what a new year brings. It is a fresh anticipation of a positive outcome.
Living hope is a daily anticipation that God will honor his promise.
A close personal relationship with the Godhead provides you a living hope. It is a living anticipation full of expectation of something good happening.
So, as 2023 ticks its last tocks, allow yourself the pleasure of some new hope as 2024 rings in.
Be willing to change some things that may have bound you in 2023. Do not be afraid of changing how you think in 2024.
Jesus said following him was not a walk in the park. Many times, life does not go the way we anticipated. But following Jesus will always be the right decision.
Draw close to God—one step at a time, one day at a time.
A close personal relationship with the Godhead is a journey. I invite you to follow along. I will pass it along as I learn so you, too, can learn. I hope that as you learn, you can pass it along so that I (and others) might know.
Happy New Year!