Happy New Year!

Already a new year has begun. For some of us, the start of another year wipes the slate clean, gives a chance to reinvent one's dreams, start over, get it right. For others of us, we've lost a person, a dream, a focus in 2009, and the thought of another year appears bleak and empty.

For those filled with excitment, channel that energy into a focus on God. Make Him the centre of your goals. If you don't, you may lose what you'd hoped for and your world will crash around you. If Yahweh is the centre of your dreams, He will pour His dreams into your heart, and their fulfillment will be greater than anything you could have imagined.

I will praise Yahweh, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set Yahweh always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (Psalm 16:7-8)

Show me Your ways, O Yahweh, teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Saviour, and my hope is in You all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)

For those facing the year with dread, God in His providence has brought you here. Cling to the hope that God is good all the time, even when the circumstances seem cruel and heart-wrenching.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. Wait for Yahweh; be strong and take heart and wait for Yahweh. (Psalm 27:13-14)

May we head into the year with our hearts and eyes set on seeking Yahweh's face. This earth is just the prologue. The best is yet to come!

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13b-14)