What's So Great About a New Year?
Noah was now 601 years old. On the first day of the new year, ten and a half months after the flood began, the floodwaters had almost dried up from the earth. Noah lifted back the covering of the boat and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. Genesis 8:13 (New Living Translation, NLT)
What is so special about a new year? Why do people approach a new year with so much hope and expectation? After all, January 1st is really no different than December 31st or any other day, is it? Yes, and no.
True, January 1st is a day that is, in many ways, the same as any other day- such as the number of hours contained in it and the general things that define a day. However, January 1st is also very different from December 31st. December 31st is the end of a thing while the 1st is the beginning of one. When we end something, we have a feeling of finality; of moving on from it to new things. Paul spoke of looking ahead and forgetting the things that are behind. January 1st is such a day.
A calendar year is simply the counting of 365 days in a row. When we reach the final day of that count and we start the count all over with day number 1, it is as if those last 365 days are gone and we are at the beginning once again.
Just as Noah looked out of the ark on that first day of the first month, saw drying ground, and the hope of a new beginning had to rise in his heart, the same happens to us at the start of a new year. Any disappointments, or even good accomplishments, from the previous year are now in the past, and fresh opportunities stretch out before us with all their promise. Let’s enter 2023 with anticipation of a year full of the promise of great things. The possibilities are endless!
