This time last year we excitedly welcomed 2020…a new year and decade, full of hopes and dreams for our future. Little did we all know what changes and challenges would come upon us.
There’s no doubt about it, 2020 was a rough year. But even so there were bright spots in the year, with things to rejoice over: births, engagements, graduations, celebrations and new opportunities.
I recall a time when I was young and everyone in my family was sick. We were all in the same room and miserable, but there was a sense of coziness being together.
No doubt, some children have felt similarly about 2020. Even in the turmoil and disappointments there was a closeness with their family members never before experienced. There was suddenly time for board games, cooking together, walks and bike rides.
Tragically, it wasn’t like this for all families. Some families went from bad to worse. And many of the elderly, living alone or in care homes, felt desperately alone and deserted.
Here we are, a year later, more than ready to welcome in a New Year. We’re ready to rip off the calendar page of December 2020 and welcome January 2021…a bright year, clean and fresh as the snow belonging to the season.
But will changing the calendar page change the picture? No, of course not.
I’m reminded of what Christ said in Mark 2:22, “…no man puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
A new calendar year doesn’t change our circumstances. Unless there is a change in our world with what challenged us in 2020, the new year will continue in the same direction. And unless our thinking and handling of the challenges we faced in 2020 is changed, we will find ourselves in similar circumstances, if not worse.
Our fight is not the virus, our neighbors, the science, the rules or the regulations. It’s not a fight against skin color or party affiliation. It’s a fight between good and evil. We have to be vigilant, and we have to persevere for the Truth if the good is to overcome the evil which we will face in 2021.
May we all take courage to do what is right, no matter the circumstances in this New Year.
