Open Road Press

New Year’s is always a good time for reassessment. Questions like where have we been and where are we headed are well worth asking. Is 2014 going to look just like all the other years, or are there new adventures on your horizon? We all risk getting stuck in a rut, unable through our own power to see beyond present circumstances to a more fulfilling future.

I’d like to encourage you to consider new possibilities this year. After all, the time we have been given is a gift not to be squandered. So resolve to explore more of life. When you do, you’ll return your own special gift to those who journey with you, and to those whose paths you cross.

If you aren’t quite sure where to start, here are some ideas:

• Begin a new hobby, or rekindle an old one
• Volunteer for a cause that is near to your heart
• Sign up for a course or buy a book to learn that skill you’ve wanted for years
• Check the local events calendar and attend a special event to meet some interesting people
• Invite the neighbors over and cook them a special dish
• Plan a vacation that will take you somewhere you’ve never been before
• Attend a Bible study
• Buy a season’s pass for a local theater or sports team
• Plan a weeklong bicycle trip, or a camping expedition
• Change jobs, or approach the one you already have by asking yourself what can I give rather than what can I get
• If your life just needs a major overhaul, maybe it’s time to move to another location

So, what does 2014 offer you? Or, rather, what do you offer it? Those are also worthwhile questions to ask. Whatever happens in 2014, realize that you have a vote. Unless you’re in jail, or unless you choose enslavement to your routine, you aren’t destined to a life of bondage to your present circumstances …even if it feels that way. You have the power to change. The decisions you make today will change your tomorrow. Once you’ve made the first step, others will follow with more rapidity and ease.

Will you live resigned to stagnation and boredom, or will you live resolved to experience life anew? Heaven knows there’s plenty of newness awaiting those who seek it. Exercise the courage to keep the New in New Year’s. When you do, 2014 will bring more joy and contentment to you—and you will bring more joy and contentment to it.