On the threshold of the new year I have one resolution: to not let the bad memories fuel fear about the future.

I am finding that it is easier to hold a recollection of badness than to remember the many good times in the past year. Unhappily, the bad things take up a lot of room in your head. They are not welcome anymore! Let’s all resolve to cram our heads so full of goodness, that the darkness is squeezed out.

As Henri Nouwen says; ‘We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life. Imagine that we could live each day as a day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the new year always listening to a voice saying to us: “I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it!” Imagine!’*

This new year is not an opportunity to look back and expect the future to be as hard as what has gone before. It is a chance to believe that better is waiting for you. It is up to you to see it and take hold of it, never forgetting that our Father God is holding onto you too. As always, these words of mine are for me and for you, so let’s hold each other accountable; who will be the first to fulfil one of the promises that you have been blessed with today?

* Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. Nouwen (Redemptorist Pastoral Publication, Liguori Publications, 2004).