Every day is a new beginning

I love New Year’s Day! I look forward to a new year, a clean slate, an opportunity to start again. Since an early teen, I have treasured the process of setting goals for myself and working to achieve them. Sometimes my goals are new and sometimes they are the same goals I have been working on for years. Sometimes my goals are small, like making my bed every morning-–(Success!) And sometimes not-so-small goals, like learning Spanish--(Failure! This goal has been transferred from year to year, many times.) I know not everyone feels the same about setting goals. It can be terribly frustrating to set goals and not achieve them. But whether you love setting goals or dread it, settings goals can be different this year. Here are some thoughts that have helped me.

Very little is known about Jesus Christ’s first 30 years of life. Aside from His visit to the temple at the age of 12, there is a large gap in the historical record between His Nativity and the beginning of His public ministry. In Luke 2:52, we are offered a small but significant glimpse into those 30 years. Luke records, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man.” As I have read and studied this scripture, I am inspired by the thought that Jesus spent His time and effort in these particular pursuits. I have wanted to focus on the same things Jesus did.

If I were to draw parallels between how Christ spent His time and what that might look like in my own life, there are four important areas I can focus my time and effort on. Increasing in wisdom is the pursuit of learning in spiritual, as well as secular, matters. Increasing in stature suggests a focus on physical health. Increasing in favor with God reflects the effort to develop a personal relationship with God. And finally, increasing in favor with man is the effort put forth to serve and care for those around me. Each year I choose one or two goals in each of these areas. Despite both success and failure with the goals I set, I am buoyed up by the knowledge that “with God, nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)

God provides help and support to each of us, even when we fall short. I am quite certain that there is not a single goal that I have achieved perfectly.I have certainly grown from the effort of trying though! I strongly believe that whatever progress I do make leaves me better off than when I started. This is true for all of us. Don’t get discouraged if your efforts to meet a goal are imperfect--just start again. Elder Dale G. Renlund of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stated, “God cares a lot more about who we are and who we are becoming than about who we once were. He cares that we keep on trying.” Look to God, who loves us deeply, for the strength to try again. Elder Deiter F. Uchtdorf, also of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remarked, “God loves you this very day and always. He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles . . . He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And he still loves you.”

The most important gift Jesus provides us is the gift of repentance offered through His Atonement. When we make mistakes, Satan wants us to think we are not good enough to start again, that our mistakes are too serious and that we are too far off the right path. Instead we must remember that the grace of Jesus Christ is real, that there is both forgiveness and cleansing for the repentant sinner. Jesus provides us the opportunity to start fresh anytime we are willing to go to Him and ask.

I am profoundly grateful for Jesus Christ. I am most grateful for the opportunity to start new every single day. His grace affords me the option of leaving the old person behind and emerging a new creature through Him. I can start again and again and leave my past behind. Because of Him, the world is filled with second chances and every day is a new beginning.

After a successful career as a chemist, Mandy Quimby has settled into Palmer with her family. She enjoys running and volunteering in the community with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.