NEW Year - or Is It?

Our family got together with some of our closest friends on New Years' Eve to celebrate the closing of what was a very difficult year for our family. Within our family of five we love and support one another, but outside of our little home, this has been a year of tremendous changes.
My friend and I were sitting just after midnight around her kitchen table. All the goodies we made had been consumed - the pepperoni bread, bean dip (I got this from a blog on Homesteadblogger and it was AWESOME!) and Chinese donuts -- all the cherries were gone and rolling around in the bottom of half consumed Shirley Temples. Our discussion was about whether it really is a NEW year, or just a continuation of the same. If you think about time in relation to eternity the way the Lord sees it, there really is no starting and stopping points.
Long before this discussion, I decided this year, I would make no New Years' resolutions. Any changes that I were to make, or that I would yield enough of myself for the Lord to make in me, would not be for a year - but for a lifetime. This first conversation of the "new year" really pulled everything I was thinking together, and solidfied my thoughts. Whether it is January 1st or June 19th or October 7th - if you know something in your life, your family, your home needs some alteration - THAT is the day to resolve it in your heart - and make the difference. When the Lord brings something to your attention - there is no time like the present to address that issue, and begin anew.
I don't want to be a bummer to anyone that has truly committed in their heart to make a much needed change in their lives. I have many areas where the Lord is helping me through the refining process. My desire is to encourage anyone who now realizes it is January 2nd, or 7th, 18th or 23rd - or maybe you were searching my Archives and found that today is August 12, 2009 - TODAY can still be the place where everything turns around!
A Happy and Blessed New Year to each and every one of you!
Much love - Julie