A New Year, a Promise of Potential

There are some new things that I just love.

I love a new purse. I love taking my things out of the old one and deciding how they will fit in the new one. I love the feel of a new purse and getting used to how it feels on my shoulder.

I love a new calendar, it is the promise of all the days ahead and all the potential of all those days.

I love a new Bible. Years ago when I was given a new study Bible, someone told me it was important to take the time to turn every page. This was so that you wouldn't accidentally tear a page if they stuck together. I believe I have done that with every Bible I have been given since then. A new Bible is like holding the most precious of gifts and realizing you hold in your hand more potential for growth and truth than you could ever know in a thousand lifetimes.


I love a new pen. I just love pens, but especially a new pen. Writing with it, learning the little secrets every pen has --if I hold it this way it scratches some on the paper, if I hold it that way, it tends to skip.


I love a new journal. I love journals and have several of them that I use for different topics. I love to wait until I know exactly what I will use that journal for. I like wondering what will happen to them long after I am gone, if anyone will ever read them or if they will just end up in the trash, or in a box stored away in someone's attic.


As much as I love new things, I love old things too. I love having something that I know has been much handled and loved. I love looking at an old book knowing that hand after hand has turned the same pages I am turning and reading the same words that I am reading.

Image by mag3737 via Flickr

I love my old Christmas ornaments. I have some ornaments on our tree that I put on my trees as a young girl. I love to think about how many times I might have looked at my own reflection in those shiny balls.


This marriage of old and new, it is a beautiful theme, respecting what has come before, but appreciating the new as well.

So with that frame of mind, I look toward a new year. A potential of promise and hope, a year of expectancy. I expect to see the Lord work mightily in my life, in the lives of my family members, in my country, in all those things that burden, concern or frequent my heart.

I will look at the little blocks on the calender with two words in the back of my mind, "Expect God".