Happy New...

The New Year's celebrations are over, and you may have already stashed the Christmas decorations away for the next twelve months, or watered the Christmas Poinsettia in hopes of keeping it looking fresh a bit longer.   

Likewise, you may have redeemed Christmas gift cards or begun putting Christmas gifts to good use. "Newness" is exciting, isn't it, whether using new things--or putting plans or goals into place on your 2023 calendar?      

As we return to our routines, it isn't long before the new days of the year have slipped into weeks, then months. Before we know it, the newness of the things we received for Christmas--or the goals or resolutions we made for the new year--may begin to wane. We may hardly realize it is happening until each day begins to feel like, well--ordinary sameness.               

Yet, after the newness wanes, may we remind ourselves that our soul does not have to succumb to ordinary sameness? Wake-up, soul! For in this new year you have been gifted with three-hundred sixty-five days of opportunity!    
  
We stow away Christmas decorations, but there is something that we don't need to put away--the "Happy New Year" greeting. And why, do you ask? Because there is more to it than we realize. The new year comes, but how often (or how long) do we focus on the "Happy" and the "New" in that phrase? 

From this perspective, what will your soul's "Happy New" be this year? In other words, what new opportunity, idea, thought, hope, dream, or desire will ignite your passion, make you feel excited to get up each morning?      

Here is a challenge for you. Fill in the blank: What will your "Happy New" be this year? _________. (For example, a "Happy New" hope could be one of intention to make a difference each day). Choose a word that will be most fitting for you.         

May your "Happy New" result in a "Happy New You!" that will allow your soul to grow and flourish as effortlessly as the spring seedling in the photo above. May your walk on the path toward your goals, hopes, and dreams for 2023 be one that carries you onward and upward!   

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come." - 2 Cor. 5:17
"For it was You who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise You because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made." - Psalms 139:13-14

Photo courtesy of Vecteezy.com

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