Happy New Year 2020!

​Life is a series of progressive or upward steps. We are constantly called upon to forsake that which is lesser to press into that which is greater. Kindergarten gives way to grade school; the preoccupation of youth is superseded with the duties of adulthood; the knowledge gained in training is swallowed up in the wisdom acquired by experience. 
 
We are always growing, changing, enlarging. Places that once seemed tailor-made for us become too small as we outgrow the garment of our current stations in life. A parent views the physical growth of the child, which necessitates the purchasing of a new wardrobe, as a regular and predictable event in life. The child’s body reflects changes; his mind encompasses new concepts; his skills enlarge and mature; his potential is released. And, all this is natural.
 
Adulthood comes; but it is, by no means, a fixed or stationary thing. Life is too large to be comprehended in 21 years. Our capabilities are too numerous to be explored within the first few decades of living. Life is a series of opportunities for enhancement. I vividly recall leaving the family home to go away to school. My heart was filled with fear as I walked away from the security of home and hearth. Saying good-bye (even temporarily) to my parents and parting with my high school friends in order to embrace my future was no easy task.
 
I once heard it said that the measure of a man is that he is willing to lay aside the very things that he loves for a higher cause. However, if we become unwilling to spend what we have already gained in order to advance to the next valuable stage of development, we may find ourselves in a stale, stagnant and retarded state of being. Time is linear, not cyclical. Time and history move progressively forward. We age toward death. New Year’s Eve heralds the opening of New Year’s Day. If we fail to appreciate this benefit of life, we relive our past and recycle our yesterdays, spiraling downward into a lack of purpose and destiny. 
 
Whether the past is pleasant or painful or whether the future is bright or hazy, life moves us onward into this great exploration of a broader place. Sweet memories of the past remain while destinies and hopes loom on the horizon yet to be explored. The Apostle Paul stated that he was always forgetting what was behind and reaching forward to what was ahead, pursuing as his goal the rewards promised by God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).
 
May this New Year find you in passionate pursuit of your destiny, faith-filled obedience to heaven’s mandate, and fearless conquest over every obstacle! Happy New Year 2020!