When my large family celebrates Christmas together, we generate alot of trash.  After the gifts are opened, the living room looks like a hurricane came through.  There are boxes, paper, cardboard, and tissue paper strewn all over the floor, chairs, and sometimes on people (mostly from my brothers throwing paper ‘bombs’ at me).  Don’t get me started on the kitchen, as food is consumed at a rapid rate and the trash can gets filled and the bag replaced repeatedly throughout the day.  When the parties are over and the last eggroll is eaten, we sort the things we recycle from the things we call trash.  Either way, it all gets hauled out.

As the New Year approaches, we all need to get rid of the trash we’ve been hanging onto.   Sometimes we keep anger, bitterness, disappointments, or worries longer than we should.  God thinks so too. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19) God doesn’t want us to hang onto things which don’t bring light and joy to our future.  He wants to make our future bright.  “But this I call to mind and, therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21-23) God wants to give us a fresh and beautiful beginning.  We can do our part by letting go of the old and looking forward to the next season God has for us.  After all, “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” (Proverbs 23:18) Let’s stick with God’s Plan A: a bright and hope-filled New Year.