Why do we stay up until the middle of the night… merely to stay up to the middle of the night?
Why does the world go insane because the year increments by one?
Why does it matter that the second hand ticks that one time? Why is it special? Why is that one minute passing so vitally important?
What is magical about standing on the moon? Or seeing light broken by little globules of H2O? Or looking into the eyes of the child you love? Or reading a story of joy and heartache?
What is … magic, in this sense?
These things are the definition of magic. The joy you get from a rarity, from the beauty of a thing which is special simply because it is unique. When the year passes… when 365 days end their time… when the last second runs out… we look and see an enigma of time: it goes on. We see a marker which God wrote into the heavens with incomprehensible exploding giants of power, ticked out in our daily lives, yet again, just as always before, and yet so unique.
No year is the same.
New opportunities. Old lessons learned. New hopes. Old victories. New challenges. Old failures. New adventures. Old memories. Each year brings change. No year is the same for each person, and no year is repeated.
Take this one.
Live it for God. Choose to grasp it and step on. No matter how low you’ve gone this year, this next you can rise again. Do it.
Filed under: Heavenly, Saturday Serendipity Tagged: | Life, Living for God, Magic, New Year, Trust
Sometimes I think it’s so sad that the time has gone forever from the past year, never to be re-lived.
Beautiful post, Jay. Each new year brings new hope and joy.
God bless you this coming year, may you grow in God’s grace and be blessed by Him in many ways!
Happy new year, Steph!
Yes, finality has a ring of.. doom almost to me as well. It’s sad, especially when we know it could have been spent better.
And yet, this last year has been a tremendously blessed one far beyond my hopes and dreams. I expect no less of the next.
God bless and be with you as well in the same, Steph.
Happy new year, Jay! Thankyou for sharing those thoughts; they made me stop and think.
Whenever a year passes and a new one begins, I’m always reminded of a quote by Tommy Emmanuel: “Life is not a rehearsal.” At times in the back of my brain I get this ‘I’ll do it differently the next time around’ mindset. I have to remind myself that there is no next time. *This is it.* It can be a sobering thought.
I’m grateful for how far God has brought me through this year, but I am especially thankful that He is by no means done with me.
Another year down, the rest of my life to go! 
Yes, we only get one shot at this time.
Amen! Higher Up and Further In!
Wonderful. Thanks for this. I needed it tonight.
I am glad you did.
It never ceases to amaze me how God uses this blog.. 
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Sir Emeth! You have made me think again of how the planets and stars are like a clock, a magnificent timepiece. I’m glad your 2011 was so blessed!
Maria T
Yes! And the New Year is when the great clock of the solar system chimes again.
Happy new year!
Last night I was thinking… wow, God did so much in 2011… I wonder what He’s going to do in 2012. It’s a simple thought, but so full of hope and wonder and excitement… even the hard parts will be awesome, because God goes with us.
Very exciting, living with God…
Yes, sometimes the most simple thoughts are the most beautiful and profound.
It’s the hard things I’m excited about seeing. Haha.
‘Tis.
Indeed.
Even if…?
* smiles and prays hard * Even if. Yes… even if.
*smiles hard* I am glad. So, so glad.