I recently saw this t-shirt in a store and thought, 'This is a great New Year's resolution!' Someone once pointed out to me that 'dog' is God spelled backwards. The love a dog can have for his family, even a family that isn't always attentive, is remarkable indeed. I do believe that God gave us this wonderful animal to help us understand the very nature of love, and how He loves us.
We equate a New Year to a new beginning for a lot of things. We make our list...
- Be more kind and attentive to others
- Save more money
- Lose a few pounds and exercise more
- Be grateful, complain less
- Forgive more often and eat fewer cookies
- Never tire of fighting for a good cause
- Get a dog
I'm sure you have your own list of things that will make this new year 'happier' for you. As Christians, we need to understand there is something better than 'happy', it's called joy. Do you know the difference between happiness and joy? There is an important difference - happy is based on circumstances - when all is right in our world, we're happy. But it's not in the least attainable for more than a short time, soon another problem is waiting to be solved. Here on our beautiful earth, we don't live sans (without) sickness, sans challenges, sans love, but that doesn't mean we can't have true joy because we've been told what, and who, is coming.
My husband was part of a team that made the first maps of Iran and Afghanistan. I understand that they are still being used today. He spent a lot of time in those countries during this project. I have a little book of Omar Khayyam's poetry that my husband purchased in a bookstore on Palivi Blvd. in Teheran, Iran. I read from it now and then, beautiful Persian artwork among the poetry. Khayyam had no vision of an eternal life, only eternal death. He did not understand the glory and beauty that is to come, he wrote...
"Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust Descend;
Dust into Dust,and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine sans Song, sans ginger and - sans End!
The disciple John, beloved to Jesus, was given the gift of experiencing heaven so he could write about it and we would be able to get a glimpse of eternity as he did. John wrote...
He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new." Revelation 21:5
To know this, is to know the joy of the Lord beyond what we see in the midst our circumstances. And this is how to have a Happy New Year. Those of us who know Jesus as Lord and whose name is written in the Book of Life will see a new world, the one we always wanted here on earth, but could never experience.
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4
Thank you Lord for all that is coming for those who love You. You have prepared a place beyond our comprehension, life eternal with You.
