A new year, a new you...

Here we are once again. A new year is upon us and just like every year, we are making promises to ourselves, resolutions to become skinner and healthier, master another language, learn to play an instrument, work on our sports skills, become better in our faith life, stop being so angry, do better in school. The new year finds us all with grand plans of becoming better, "new and improved" people.
This is all well and good of course, we should desire to improve ourselves, in fact, God asks us to do just that. But there is a problem. The world we live in today places an exaggerated focus on change. Somehow, change has come to be in many ways synonymous with happiness. Change the number on the scale if you want to be happy. Change your clothes if you want to be happy. Change the way you act if you want to be happy. Change, change, change. It's no wonder then that Obama won the election for President. He said the word change and that's all America had to hear. But all joking aside, come new years, even people who wouldn't normally join the mob start chanting "Change, change, change!" right along with everyone else. Why? What is it that makes us feel like we need to change because another year has come and gone? Maybe we don't like what we see when we look in the mirror. Perhaps we desperately wish we were better or more talented. Or it could be that we think ourselves boring. But whatever the motivation, people make resolutions every new year, and I would suggest that it is not necessarily a good tradition.
The resolutions we make for the new year often distract us from a very important fact. The fact that God loves us just as we are, slightly chubby, with out-dated clothes and imperfect German. Now you might be wondering, "Didn't you say God wants us to improve ourselves?" Absolutely He does. However, He also loves us unconditionally no matter where we are in life. He died as much for the sinner as for the saint. His love knows no bounds. So this year, resolve to love yourself, exactly where you are. Go ahead and make other resolutions too, like going to the gym to stay in shape or making prayer a greater priority in your daily life, but be patient with yourself. Rest easy in the knowledge that even if you fail, God will always love you. The important thing is that you tried, just trust God.
This new years, I will pray that every person comes to know that no matter what, they are loved unconditionally by God for exactly who they are. Not what they have done or have failed to do, not for who they will become, but for who they are right now. Unchanged and imperfect though we are, He loves us with a love beyond all human understanding. (Here's a song that expresses that beautifully - click here to listen to it!) Change shouldn't be the focus of each new year, rather, thanksgiving for the love of God renewed year after year after year. And for me, that's a reason to shout Happy New Year!!!

May God bless you and keep you now and always!
<3 Emily