Verse of the Day - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

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It's 8:23am on New Year's Day, and here I sit, watching the Rose Parade on HGTV. It's rather a tradition for me (although after 47 floats, don't they all begin to look the same?!?!), and I know my mom is watching, too, because that is definitely her tradition. In fact, I was reminiscing the other day with a co-worker of family New Year's traditions, and I remember two things about New Year's Day as a child -- my dad going steel head fishing at the American River with his new fishing license that he got for Christmas, and my mom watching the Rose Parade on TV. Oh, and eating yummy cinnamon rolls made by my mom. I had an urge this morning to make cinnamon rolls, in keeping with tradition...but then realized that it would be me, and me only, that ended up eating all 4,025,003 calories...oh, well--so much for tradition. :-)

We have our annual traditions, and we make our annual resolutions. And after the annual resolutions fail, we have our annual guilt fest, and then annually dust off the guilt and move on with the year. Life is a cycle. The song goes, "What goes up, must come down...spinning wheel's got to go round...", and God's word declares, "There is a time for everything, a season for everything under the sun...what is has already been, and what will be has been before..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1,15). Does that make any of you feel like a hamster, stuck on an exercise wheel, going nowhere fast?!

Although I believe that seasons and cycles have a valuable place in our lives, at times it can feel as if we're stuck in a mode we can't get out of...

~ I gotta lose 20 pounds this year . . . hey, is that an unopened box of See's Candy I see...?!?

~ I'm gonna quit gossiping this year . . . but, I just gotta say, did you see that hideous dress Mrs. Hinkelmeyer wore on Christmas Eve?!?

~ I gotta quit being such a clutter-bug . . . Hey, wait! You can't throw out those 14 boxes of National Geographic magazines -- I might read those someday...!

We can feel as if we have no choice but to keep running on the hamster wheel, round and round, with no hope of change. But if you are a believer in Christ, you already have been changed, amen?!? You are no longer bound to the spinning wheel -- it doesn't "got to go round" in your life! God, by His mighty power, has transformed us from death to life, from old to new, from powerless to powerful! We aren't chained to sin and death -- we're released to righteousness and life!

Believer, the old you is not the real you. Your ability to be different is powered by the Living God, so you're not hopelessly stuck in sinful traditions of envy, greedy, gluttony and self-deprecation, with no way out. God is our way out of the endless cycle of misdeeds and downward spirals! Praise Him! So, throw out that hamster wheel, and grab onto God's reins, because with Him, you're headed across open country!

Happy 2009, my friends, and enjoy the ride!

Love,
Joelene