I hope you had a really enjoyable Christmas without that sinking feeling afterwards. After all, New Year is now upon us, with its opportunity to make those firm resolutions.

Ah, yes – those resolutions. If past years are anything to go by, most resolutions last at least until January 3, if not the 4th.

Good intentions to lose weight, work harder, work less hard, keep fit, cycle to the office (ouch! that one hurts), all looking so very attractive from a relaxed, late December perspective, seem to lose their glow on a brisk, cold January morning.

And having just discovered a fabulous recipe for Scottish tablet (a kind of brittle fudge) I don’t feel inclined to resolve to eat fewer sweets - even if my dentist would approve.

Yet it is possible to make a fresh start, and New Year is a really good time for it. No matter how much you feel you’ve messed up this year, or how hopeless things look, a new beginning is always possible. It’s never too late.

In one translation of the New Testament the apostle Paul writes: ‘What we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!’

Perhaps you went to church over Christmas and found it an enjoyable experience. Maybe you’d like to go back and find out more about the baby of Bethlehem – whatever became of him?

God offers to anyone who wants it a new way of living, starting today. Believe me, it’s not the kind of thing you’ll have abandoned after a week, like those ill-fated resolutions. Why not accept His offer of a new start, a new life? There’s no ‘let-down’ after that!

l Read more stories about faith in the Mind and Spirit section of our website.

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