My morning routine always includes spending quiet time with God reading my Bible. At present I am reading through Paul’s letters and am currently in Ephesians.

In recent days I have picked up another book of inspiration that I have enjoyed through the years….Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

There are two messages from both books that I would like to share on this New Years Eve.

The first is from Simple Abundance:

Before we can welcome in the New Year, we need to put the Old Year’s unfinished business – mistakes, regrets, shortcomings, and disappointments behind us. 

Here’s how: write down on small slips of paper whatever you’d like to forget, then place the slips of paper in a small cardboard box. Next, with ceremony, wrap the box in black or very dark paper, sealing in the sorrow and hard luck. Say, “Good riddance,” and toss the box into the fireplace to burn away the past. If you don’t have a fireplace, toss the bad memories from the past into the trash where they belong. Keep only the good.

And from my most favorite read, my Life Application Study Bible, a commentary on Ephesians 1: 16-17:

Paul prayed for the believers to know God better. How do you get to know someone? By reading biographical information or historical data about him? That will help you know a lot  about that person, but it won’t enable you to actually know him.

If you want to get to know someone, you have to spend time with that person; there is no shortcut. The same holds true with God. Reading the Bible, great works of theology, and devotional material is wonderful, but there is no substitute for knowing God personally.

What about you? Do you really know God, or do you just know about him? The difference is spending time with him. Study Jesus’ life in the Gospels to see what he was like on earth two thousand years ago, and get to know him in prayer now.

 Personal knowledge of Christ will change your life.

Out with the old

In with the new

New thoughts

New life.