New

Good morning, God, and thank you for this new day and this new year in our lives!  It's been a couple of weeks since I last spoke with you here, though I hope that communication is open between us all the time, blog or no.  I've been working on a project that I just finished yesterday, so now I actually have some time to do something other than that project.

We've started a new year, as you well know.  Personally, I don't see it so much as a start as a continuation--we left 2015 and entered 2016, but we also just finished Thursday and started Friday, when all is said and done.  Life keeps on keeping on, and the new years just keep on coming, don't they?

On the other hand, I like the idea of a new start.  I like the metaphor of the new year being a book with empty pages that we're going to write our story on for the next 360-some days.  Somehow, having the idea of a new start in my mind helps me to get focused on certain things, and that focus helps me to accomplish things that I want to accomplish.

I suppose what I mostly want to say is thank you for the promise of the new year.  None of us knows if we're going to be around for the entire year, of course, but we have to start it as if we are.  We can't start the year hesitantly and hope for the best--we have to enter the year boldly and make our goals and do our best to do the things that we hope and dream we'll be able to do.  I'd like to ask your help with that.  I'm not good at stopping and asking for help when I start something, but I know that I don't have to stop and ask you every time for you to be there with me, helping me out.  So as this new year goes on and I start to take on different tasks and challenges, I hope that you'll be there with me to help me to do things according to your will, the will of love, as I make decisions and start projects and take on challenges.  Even if I don't physically stop and ask you at the time, I'll still have the same standing request for your help and guidance.  And I thank you in advance for being there.

A reply:

You're right--you don't have to ask me over and over again.  In fact, it's mentioned in the Bible that you actually shouldn't do so.  People have been wise for a very long time, and one of the indications of their wisdom was the recognition that I'm not petty.  I'm not going to say "Well, he didn't ask me in the right way, so I'm not going to help him at all."  If your heart is always with me and hoping to do things for the good of the world, then I'm with you.  Any of you, and it doesn't matter what religion your parents have taught you--if goodness and love are being spread, I'm there helping.  Remember that the motive is also important, because a kind act done with the motivation of receiving something in return is no longer a kind act--it's a form of barter.  And thank you for asking--keep me in mind and you'll also keep your motives pure.

A new year is a nice gift, though it's based on the concept of time, which isn't nearly as important as many other things.  Love is a good example.  A new start is fine, but many people want to keep doing the same things, even with a new start.  When they do that, they get the same results, of course, and then they start to feel negative about new starts.  They don't keep in mind that if they continue to act in the same ways, they're going to get similar results.  They want to change the results without changing the actions or the beliefs, and life just doesn't work that way.  So look at your new year as a chance for you to start acting in different ways, and you'll see some significant changes.  Look at it with the hope that it's going to bring you new results all on its own, and you'll be quite disappointed.  Some new results will indeed creep in, but they generally won't be of your doing.

So enjoy the year. It is a gift, and it is for you. Make the most of it by making some of the changes that you've been longing to make.  Take risks.  Do things differently.  Meet new people and give new gifts and share new ideas and act in new and positive ways.  Think about it--if I were to give you a new canvas to paint on, would you use old paint that has faded and dried out, or would you use new paint with brilliant colors and high quality?  Yes, buying the new paint is a risk that you'd have to take, and the picture may not turn out exactly as you envisioned it, but the risk is worthwhile, for that is how you grow in life!