January is named after Janus (Ianuarius), the god of the doorway; the name has its beginnings in Roman mythology, coming from the Latin word for door (ianua) – January is the door to the year.  I love that! The door of the year! It had never really occurred to me before what the name of the month meant. But it seems to go so appropriately with a verse I read recently: 

     2013 is in the past. It is gone and became a part of our history. 2014 is our new road and on that road is a door. We can either pass through it and see where God is leading us or we can walk up to it, take a peek but reach our hand out and close it. Never to know what God really wanted for us. I don’t know about you, but I am fully prepared to open that door as wide as it will go and walk through it to look and see where God wants me to go this year. I think He has something special in store for all of us. Who knows? Maybe He’ll return this year! But even if He doesn’t, I can’t wait to find out what He does have waiting for me. That doesn’t mean we don’t look back and remember the good times of the past year nor does it mean we forget the bad because the bad is what helps us learn and grow. We make mistakes then we go on and learn from those mistakes. That is the beauty of the New Year though. Each year we can start things fresh. New.  Not necessarily to forget the past year but to consider the possibilities of what can be. To imagine and to dream and to fulfill dreams. 

     In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Old things have passed away and all things become new. You know, I know this verse speaks of sin and salvation but I also know that God gives us second chances. And for me to know that each and every time I give my heart to God that He makes me all new again I just about can’t contain myself! I love the quote from Anne of Green Gables when Anne says, “Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.” I can’t wait for the New Year to start because it has no mistakes in it yet.

    A new door is opening, a road is being paved and a river is beginning to trickle on dry, parched land that has yet to be walked on.  I wonder what doors we will open this year and what God has for us? I wonder if we will like what we see and find or, if we’ll hate it and slam the door shut with a final thud wishing we’d never opened it in the first place? I wonder if whatever road we walk on if it will be straight and precise and we won’t have even a care; or if it will be curvy and hilly and we’ll wish we weren’t there? I wonder if the river that runs through the land will be quiet and peaceful; or if it will get rough and rapid and send us careening head over heels? Well, whichever way it goes, I know one thing. Jesus will be with us the whole way. We just have to let Him lead us and guide us through it all. 

    I hope this year you have the opportunity to explore new things and to find out what doors God has for you to walk through. He stands at the door knocking.  I hope you and I will let Him in to fill our hearts and minds with the things He wants for us.

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     Over the next week I will be making some changes to my blog. Just as I am excited to walk through new doors this year I am also very excited to see what new doors God will open with this blog. Thank you friends for joining me and I wish you very rich blessings through our Lord Jesus Christ in this New Year of 2014. Blessings, Marcie 

©Heart Thoughts, Marcie Bridges, 2014