Last Updated on June 13, 2017
My pastor came up with an interesting illustration about the new year this past Sunday; I’m sharing it because I think it can apply to anyone, even if you’re not all that religious.
The theme was about moving forward, and who among us hasn’t longed to do that, especially after a bad year when things didn’t go as you expected or hoped?
The previous year, he said, is like a forest we’re walking through. On the horizon, we see the new year as a rising sun. But in between us and that sunshine are trees that represent shadows of 2012. Even though those things are chronologically behind us, we still have to move through them because we have to let go of the past: our failures, our mistakes, our disappointments.
It’s up to us — no one else — whether we carry those over our shoulder into a new year.
Sure, perhaps it’s a tired cliché to suggest that “tomorrow is a new day,” but the fact remains: it is.
No matter how bad yesterday was, today doesn’t have to be a repeat. Today can be better. Tomorrow can be even better than that.
I’m not saying we should expect a wonderful year, but what I like about that illustration is that reminds us that there is always hope. (The Christian in me points out that for Christians, there’s an additional level of hope, too.) Some of us need to let go of things that held us back in 2012 rather than carrying their weight and stress into 2013.
That’s a challenge I think all of us should be up for and one we should all be willing to embrace.
I hope you will be embracing it into the new year, and that 2013 is full of happiness and joy for you and your family!
