In Glasgow, Scotland there is a sun dial which shows time with an inscription, “think about your time before it slips by”. We may be under the impression that we have time in our hands but our life can end unexpectedly. I recall reading somewhere about a man who whiled away his entire life and recorded this remark, “when I had the time to do good I did not and now I am at a stage in life even though I have the will no energy to do good”.
Celebrating the New Year is sure to bring us happiness as it is an opportunity for us to start our life with renewed vigor. As we step into the New Year let us not forget to look back at the year that has gone by. The past year may not be filled with success and it may be filled with the opportunities missed to do good. This year dawns with an opportunity to do all the good we are destined to do.
In Luke chapter 17 Jesus cures 10 lepers but only one comes back to thank the Lord for the healing he received. We should be like that man ever thankful to the Lord. The Lord accepts us with all our shortcomings and makes us his own. He continues to protect us and has extended our life by another year. Let us thank the Lord for all the blessings and make an attempt to grow closer to God through Jesus Christ this year.
God is the source of all the goodness needed in our life. The Lord extends our life by minutes, so let us thank the lord for every hour and every minute he has bestowed on us. Let us treat our life as a continued blessings poured upon us. Time is the only blessing which everyone receives equally, be rich or poor, literate or illiterate, all of us have been blessed with 24 hours a day. Not a minute more or less. While some use the time effectively others use it to involve in sinful ways.
We step into the New Year with a vision and mission to cast away our sinful ways and to take a step closer to God. “That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). We may have been influenced by the humiliations and motivations we may have received from different ways this past year. We trust in a Lord who transforms everything for our goodness. The Lord promises us in Isaiah 43:1, “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Let us wake up to a new beginning trusting His benevolence.
Like St Paul moved on with his life with a determination to always do the will of God let us also be determined to reshape our dreams to always walk as per the plan of God. Like Jesus who came into this world only to do the will of God, let us also adopt this attitude and live a renewed life this year. Blessings and wishes for a bright New Year.
Fr. Boniface CST