it's new and it's shiny and it's here

I love holidays.
I am a holiday kind of girl.
Give me a reason to dance or eat chocolate and I'm there.
But there is something pretty spectacular about New Year's.
Staying up late. Watching the ball drop. Sipping sparkly drinks.
Anticipating another year fresh and unsullied laying before us.
We don't know what the new year will hold but most of us are
excited about it and fingers crossed, hoping to leave some of the crud of
last year behind us.
The New Year is a fresh start.
It is the ultimate do-over. I love do-overs.
All the things I have messed up or missed out on, I want to fix this time around.
Maybe you are like me and head into the New Year with delusions of grandeur.
Like thinking you might become a triathlete by March when you haven't exercised
in 8 years.
Or maybe you would like to launch a new career...say in zoology...because honestly your
job feels like you are working in a zoo anyway.
Or maybe you want to change every single thing about your life the first week in January.
Okay, maybe that is just me.
Last year, I vowed to get strong and fit in the new year
and started a new eating and exercise plan.
By February, I had thrown my back out and was eating whole bars of chocolate
on the couch.
I also said I was going to FINALLY finish the kid's book I have been working on for
the last three years.
This December rolled around and I realized I still only have one chapter done.
But this is the thing..Life...is....crazy.
Sometimes all your plans and hopes and dreams get turned on their ear and
you are left thinking, "Well, this year sure didn't turn out like I thought it would."
Most of us can say that about some area of our lives last year but
you can still launch into this new year with great hopes....
And I think you absolutely should!
Because hope and joy and stamina and determination are the things that
keep us alive and breathing in this world.
But I have a thought for you.
Don't pin your every hope and dream on this shiny new year.
Pin them to the One who set the stars in place and and breathes life into everything he touches.
Don't feel like if you hit February and that new year feeling is slipping through
your fingers and your pants are still tight and you still don't have a regular
devotional time with Jesus that this year is shot and your chance at bright and shiny
is gone.
Jesus loves do-overs more than we do.
He is a do-over kind of God and He doesn't just wait until the New Year.
He wants to give you do-overs all year long.
It says in Lamentations 3:22-23:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new EVERY morning. 
Great is your faithfulness.
He is more excited about this New Year for you than you could ever know.
But He is equally excited about mid-April and late October.
He has new mercies for us each and every day and
his great faithfulness is at the ready to keep us lifted and full and sustained
no matter what this new year holds.
He sees our great hopes and giant dreams for this year and he says,
"Why don't you give me this year and let's see what we can do together?"
He is offering daily do-overs, steadfast love, never ending mercy
and unwavering faithfulness throughout.
I think we should take him up on his offer, don't you?