It is hard to start over. The past clings to us—regrets follow us—guilt troubles us. It is hard to draw the line in the sand and step over it into new life. With the beginning of a new calendar year, we often want things to go differently this year. I hear people say, “2011 (pick a year) wasn’t a good year for me.” They hope 2012 will be a better year, as if time comes in 12 month packages.

A Christian practice, an examination of conscience, allows us each to begin again daily, so we can live with more freedom and joy. At the end of each day, enter God’s presence and reflect on the day, noticing where we resisted God’s love, ignored God’s leading, or affirmed God’s grace. We view our day in the light of God’s truth and love: we confess and are forgiven; we rejoice and are at peace. We can rest.

In this way, we can begin again, freshly renewed by God’s abundant grace. We can dare to believe we are truly forgiven, and then we dare to live as forgiven people—without the burden of a whole year of guilt. We can learn to distinguish between true guilt (a violation of God’s laws or God’s love) and guilt feelings (learned or imposed feelings that arise when we have been blamed or shamed). God takes care of the guilt; we can reject the guilt feelings as being false representations of who we are.

As far as resolutions go, in many ways you are the same person on January 1, 2012 that you were on December 31, 2011. Before you gather up your will power and say, “This year things will be different!” remember that God doesn’t always make things different, but God can make us different when we spend time with God. We all have ways we would like to be better: be encouraged because “the One who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6

Pastor Stephanie