“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”  Someone once wrote these memorable words in my school yearbook.

The quote is a positive approach to life, especially as one year ends and another begins. As the author of “Anne of Green Gables,” L.M. Montgomery, has written, “Every day is a new beginning with no mistakes in it yet.”

The beginning of a new year reminds me of what every writer starts with – a blank page. January brings with it the proverbial clean slate or the opportunity to start over.

That’s the reason people make New Years’ Resolutions. If your New Years’ Resolutions are like mine, the list includes something about losing weight and exercising after all the holiday food. There’s a humorous but true statement I’ve read about resolutions.  “A New Years’ Resolution usually goes in one year and out the next.”

Every day is a gift from God – maybe that’s why we call it the present. This gift of time has been compared to a currency. “Yesterday is a cashed check; tomorrow is a promissory note.  Today is cash in hand so use it – invest it,” writes John Edmund Haggai.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow asked, “What is Time?” The shadow on the dial, the striking of a clock, the running of the sand, day and night, summer and winter, months, years, centuries – these….are the measure of Time, not Time itself.  Time is the Life of the soul.”

Ever wish there were more hours in a day?  Sometimes, especially during the holidays, life can get so hectic I wish there was more time to get everything done without rushing around.  In reality, we do not need to find more time, but to use time more wisely.

Pulitzer-prize winning author Annie Dillard has written, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” To paraphrase the philosopher William James, “The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”

In the words of the Apostle Paul, “…this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind (past) and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

I like C.S. Lewis’ words, “There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” His words have been an encouragement to me through the years.  Whether the past year has brought good or bad circumstances and no matter what the new year brings, God works all things together for our good and His glory.

“You can never change the past. But by the grace of God, you can win the future. So remember those things which will help you forward, but forget those things which will only hold you back,” writes Richard C. Woodsome.

Every day is a gift from God. Let’s unwrap the present each new day brings this coming year!

 

Jan White is an award-winning religious columnist. She can be reached at jwhite@andycable.com.