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For one more night, we get to look back on 2017 and thank God for all He’s done.
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Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Today in church, a man named Don shared a memory from his childhood. His father never had more than a sixth grade education, but Don remembers his wisdom.
While we celebrate New Year’s Eve, Don’s father always reminded him today is also “Old Year’s Day.” That is, it’s the last day you’ll be able to experience 2017; it will never happen again. So as we look to welcome in a New Year, we should also be intentional about saying goodbye to the old.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
Hellos and Goodbyes
For some of us, the goodbyes are painful, and maybe 2017 was a year of loss. For others, I know 2017 was an incredible year we look back on with joy. But I would guess for most of us, it’s a blend of the two.
As Don shared, life is a series of Hellos and Goodbyes. Even at 80, Don said, he still gets chances to say Hello, even in the middle of his many Goodbyes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]And for us, we have one more chance—one more night—to look back on 2017. We can celebrate the Hellos; we can mourn the Goodbyes; and we can thank God for His faithfulness in it all.
I don’t know how you welcome in the New Year, but my favorite ways are to either spend it with friends or journal it in—to write down thanksgiving for the year gone by and to turn my eyes on the stroke of midnight toward what lies ahead.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_separator][vc_column_text]
Life is a series of Hellos and Goodbyes.
[/vc_column_text][vc_tweetmeme share_text_page_title=”” share_text_custom_text=”Life is a series of Hellos and Goodbyes” share_via=”camdenmcafee” large_button=”true”][vc_separator][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Whether you journal or not, I hope you take just a moment on this Old Year’s Day to remember God’s faithfulness to you in 2017. As I’ve often found, it’s God’s faithfulness that fuels our faith for the days ahead.
As we sang today as a church family:
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
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