SEASONS

Children, it is the last hour. – 1 John 2:18

It’s really no different from all the other months that have ended. But December coming to a close also concludes the year to welcome a new one.

In a few hours we will bid 2007 goodbye. For many, it was a good year. A year of promotion, a time of abundance, a recordbreaking feat, a wedding, a birth of a much awaited child, an ambition achieved.

For others, it could have been bad. A death in the family, a job lost, a devastating accident, a severed relationship, a painful goodbye, a missed opportunity, a major setback.

But that’s precisely why God divided time into months and years; seasons and cycles; past, present and future. So that in the past, we can have a place to bury our mistakes. In the present, we can set a benchmark with which to measure our success. In the future, we can have a goal to peg our hopes on.

Yes, it is the last hour, as our reading proclaims. But as soon as the ticking of the clock marks the end of 2006, a New Year

begins. No matter how your year ends, begin anew in the Lord. Rissa S.

REFLECTION:

Today, offer to the Lord your failures of the past and your hopes for the New Year.

Lord, You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will live every moment for You.