“The present of things past is memory; the present of things present is sight; the present of things future is expectation.”
– St. Augustine, Confessions

The new year is always bittersweet. In some sense, it represents the cycle of death and rebirth. Some may point to January 1st as being an arbitrary date to represent the completion of another cycle of the Earth orbiting around the Sun. And certainly there are other similar events, like Chinese New Year. And yet, the standard New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day deserves some praise. New Year’s always seems to be thrown into the Winter-holiday-blender, without much time or opportunity to shine. People wish each other Happy New Year but it is nearly always after having wished someone a Merry Christmas. New Year’s plans also tend to me a bit more last minute and less important. Just as an example, being alone on Christmas Day is seen as a sad and tragic occasion, but not necessarily so on New Year’s Eve. Though of course, there are plenty of parties, champagne, and fireworks that one can experience as the present year becomes the past and the future year becomes the present.

Time is something that we interact with daily, more than almost anything else. We set alarms for when we want to wake up, we have times for when we want to go to bed. We have to be at work, school, or other obligations at a certain time. We are then at these obligations for a set and fixed amount of hours and minutes before we are released and are able to spend our time elsewhere. Many people wear watches which constantly tick, constantly moving forward. Everyone and their aunt has a smart phone which also displays the time, usually right in the middle of the screen as the first thing that anyone sees. Time is inescapable and unavoidable. Even if it is only used for the sake of measuring or organizing.

Yet, I am not sure we think about time very much. Time will continue into the future whether we know it or not. Because the world has four seasons, it is easy to think of time as being cyclical. Everything always repeats over and over and over again. While there is some truth in this, there is also a time progression that cannot be avoided. Christmas and the Winter time may come again, but you will not be the same as who you were last Christmas. New Year’s is probably the one time each year where we are more conscious of the passing of time. For many, the tick of the next year is a reminder of our mortality and that we are slowly marching ever closer to the time of our death. For those who have had a difficult past year, the new year is something to look forward to, but for those who already had a great year, it can be a bit exciting or frightening to imagine how the new year may end up being better or worse.

Winter generally is a good time for reflection and a good time to think on a deeper level. It is easy to get carried away with the hustle and bustle of life when the weather is good, but when the weather is dreary and there is nothing to do outside, self-reflection becomes somewhat inevitable. It’s a great time of year to sit by the fire with a nice cup of hot beverage and meditate, bonus points if it’s snowing out. It can be hard to sit down and have some one-on-one time with God, especially nowadays with the internet, social media, and smart phones making distractions very tempting and accessible. However, it is nevertheless worth doing. It’s a quote I’ve shared before, but Søren Kierkegaard’s statement on life continues to inspire me.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Søren Kierkegaard

If we don’t look at the past and understand the what and the why, then we have no chance in successfully navigating the future. Why? Well, it is because growth and learning best happens from experience and noting the best and more relevant lessons from our past experiences. This could be said on a civilizational and national scale, but this is also incredibly relevant to the personal scale. This may be why new year’s resolutions are so popular. It may seem arbitrary to commit to doing something new starting January 1st, but the peer pressure and support of others helps. These resolutions could happen in the middle of August, but I think they are more likely to stick if these types of things are started at the beginning of the new year. It is sort of like how it is easier to start new habits at the beginning of the week and not on Thursday. Something about the start and end of something helps differentiate different sections of time.

The new year offers an opportunity for new beginnings and for a new start. While the time after Christmas should be used to reflect and learn, New Year’s Day and onward can be used to start new things and for new habits to form. A new year is a great excuse for regeneration, in whatever form that may take. The new year should also give us a bit of a kick. We aren’t getting any younger, and the easiest time to do anything is right now. Essentially, we will never get younger in our pursuits and endeavors and there really is no reason to wait. Many people may not be chronic procrastinators, but for those of us who are, death is approaching and Lord willing, it is far off. However, death is still marching towards us and there is no reason to wait in doing everything. Timing will never be right, and if we waited until everything was lined up perfectly, then nothing would ever happen. Just like the great men of history, you can just do things. God is big enough that there is no way that we can mess up His plan or that we can do what he hasn’t predestined for us.

A lot has happened in the world this past year, and there is a lot that could be reflected on, but that’s not really what I think the average person should focus on. It is good to stay informed and to know the happenings of world events, but on the day-to-day level, what happens to us personally is a lot more important. There is so much that can be done in 2026 and there is so much that our God is going to do, both for us and for the church generally. Because Jesus Christ is Lord and King of all creation, we have no reason to fear. We can go out in confidence, even unearned and in total self assurance that we have the Holy Spirit on our side and that we will win. Not because of anything we will do, but because Jesus has already won, and the princes and powers of the world have not and will not overcome Him.

So if I may get on the soap box for a second, here is my recommendation for this Winter season and for this New Year Day. Reflect and take some time to really go through what God has done in your life in the past year and how you can learn. Once this is done, boldly and bravely go forth into the new year with conviction and with a total dependence on our Lord. God is good, and no matter what happens in 2026, He will forever be victorious and. We are now closer to 2030 than to 2020, what a crazy thought. This decade is more than half over and yet there is still so much that can be done. I am excited to see what God has in store for the rest of this decade.

From Garrett L. White and myself, Nate Martin, we wish you a very Happy New Year and welcome to 2026!

“I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.” – Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 (KJV)