Starting Again for the Very First Time

There is something unique about January 1. It begins a new year, a new time for do overs. No, you can't go back and change anything that happened in 2010, but you can move on from the miscues, foibles, and downright goofy conduct experienced in 2010.

A professional athlete is judged on performance from season to season. A number of factors determine how successful a season the athlete encounters. Maybe an injury or sickness impeded progress or maybe bad decisions curtailed expected results. With a new season comes a new start.
There have been years that did not bear the success I had planned. As a matter of fact there have been years that I intentionally stayed awake until after midnight on 12/31 to make sure that year was over and didn't hang around any longer.

Well 2011 is another year, another do over. The question is will I take advantage of a new start or will I let the inopportunities of last year plague me in the new year? It seems counterproductive to burden myself with last year's pitfalls. So maybe I should take a suggestion from the apostle Paul who said, "...forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." By forgetting, he did not mean to completely ignore the lessons learned from the past, but simply to not let the problems of the past weigh you down with regret and stifle your future growth.

There is nothing you can do to change what has already transpired. But starting afresh in the new year focuses on the now rather than the past. It is in the now that decisions are made that will effect the future.

Remember the lessons but keep the past where it belongs.