Have you ever wished for a new beginning? To just wipe the slate clean and start over with a fresh new sheet of white. What about a start over with a fundamental idea of how to begin again—well? If there is one thing I think we can all agree on it would be to begin 2020 over with a fresh year and a plan to ensure it remained so. What would be that plan? Let me make a suggestion. Today is the first day of Advent. Advent is a time when we begin anew to the welcoming remembrance of God in Christ coming to earth to be with us. Believers, agnostics, and atheists alike can agree on two things, Jesus Christ himself had a grand idea of how to make the world better and our world really needs to be made better. What was Jesus’ plan? It has two parts; one, love God daily with all your heart; and two, love your neighbor as yourself. No one can say that loving God, yourself, and your neighbor would be a bad idea or that it wouldn’t be a good basis for starting over. And that is what Advent is all about. It is to push aside all noise, turmoil, and conflict to give yourself four fresh weeks of refocusing. You don’t have to believe in the religious sense if you don’t want, but you can say “I am going to believe in the human sense because I, we, us, all need a start over. 2020 has been tough, rough, and often not kind.” And there you have it. What would be a good plan to start over, a plan that works well and is good for you? Why not try loving? Now you might say, “I don’t know how to begin!” Advent does that for you. It refocuses you. You must admit we need a better 2021! Why not try love and see what happens? You don’t have to believe anything to believe that Jesus and love are good and a guide to help you for four weeks to start over. Here are a couple of guides that can help.
http://ccca.biola.edu/advent/2020/
https://www.desiringgod.org/great-joy
I will pray daily for you and for your desire to make your starting over a success. Merry Christmas!
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