8 Faith-Filled Quotes To Embrace The New Year
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We’ve entered the heart of winter with its austere beauty. As I type these words, I can look out my window at a quilt of pristine, white snow blanketing the ground. The gray days of January are marching past like a parade of weary, dreary soldiers. Yes, the start of a new year is often a time of mixed emotions. Arguably, even New Year’s celebrations themselves are some of the only holiday festivities that, by nature, are bittersweet.
On the bright side, we rejoice and reflect on the blessings of the past; maybe we rejoice to see the curtain fall on a particularly trying year and are looking forward with hope to a fresh start. Yet, marking the new year can also be tinged with less pleasant emotions. It emphasizes the passage of time and so reminds us of our mortality, of as yet unachieved goals and seemingly unanswered prayers, of loved ones we’ve lost and whom we miss. New Year’s is a party bag filled with tokens of happiness as well as of melancholy.
Then comes the flutter of preparing and organizing for the months ahead. We purchase new calendars and prettily decorated planners, and we begin to think about what should be done, must be done, and what we hope can be done, i.e., our resolutions and goals. It simultaneously can be exciting and overwhelming, like when a professor distributes a course syllabus at the beginning of a school semester.
With wide eyes and a dose of eager curiosity (or perhaps an internal groan), we scan the outline of all the material to be covered and the assignments to be completed. Viewing several months’ work in the span of a few minutes can easily be distressing. Yet, class by class, week by week, assignment by assignment, we accomplish the job.
Thankfully, we are not given a “life syllabus” at the stroke of midnight on January 1. We cannot see the future. We can offer educated guesses and do our best to plan responsibly, but we do not know the daily large and small joys and trials that will be ours in a new year. This knowledge would just be a burden that hindered us from fully living in the present moment, the only time over which we actually have some measure of control.
When or if the transition to a new year with its accompanying jumble of emotions, changes, hopes, and plans begins to weigh us down, it’s good to remember Who is in charge of history, Who is the Lord of time and seasons.
The following is a collection of quotations that hopefully can serve as reminders that no matter what is to come, our loving God is sovereign.
Quote 01
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” -Hebrews 13:8
A literary quote with a similar message comes from C. S. Lewis in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: “‘Please, Aslan,’ said Lucy, ‘what do you call soon?’ ‘I call all times soon,’ said Aslan.”
These passages remind us that God is outside of time. In fact, He is the Creator of time, and so He is not affected by its vagaries. In a world of unrelenting change, of continuous birth and decay, it is a comfort to depend upon the sustaining, reassuring constancy of Christ.
Quote 02
“My past, O Lord, to Your mercy; my present, to Your love; my future to Your providence.” -St. Padre Pio
What compellingly beautiful trust conveyed in three simple phrases! God is walking beside us, the whole span of our lives known and seen by Him, and lovingly tended in whatever way we need. “Good indeed is the Lord, His mercy endures forever, his faithfulness lasts through every generation.” (Psalm 100:5)
Quote 03
“Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” -Matthew 6:34
Such a challenge! Nonetheless, Jesus reminds us, “Can any of you by worrying add a moment to your lifespan?” (Luke 12:25) The answer, of course, is no, we cannot. Though it’s a part of life, excessive worry is futile. God will grant us everything necessary to face whatever challenges we encounter.
Quote 04
“For I know full well the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for your misfortune, plans that will offer you a future filled with hope.” -Jeremiah 29:11
We cannot and do not always understand God’s ways, but we are called to trust that God will always do what is best for us and that His plans are loving and trustworthy. He knows the bigger picture and “is working all things for good.” (Romans 8:28)
Quote 05
“For every thing there is a season, and a time for every activity under heaven.” -Ecclesiastes 3:1
We must patiently wait for each season of our lives, learning and living fully in the present moment, for it is how God is preparing us for what is to come. We should not wish away our current stage of life for something we hope to attain or to be in the future.
Quote 06
“I am the Lord, and I will accomplish all this at the appointed time.” -Isaiah 60:22
This verse is a soothing balm when it feels like our prayers have gone unanswered. God hears us, has not forgotten, and will not forget us. He is sovereign and will fulfill the desires of our heart at the best possible time.
Quote 07
“The love of the Lord is never exhausted, nor do his deeds of mercy ever come to an end. They are renewed every morning; his faithfulness never ceases.” -Lamentations 3:22-23
We are given the chance to start anew each day, to break out of the rut of bad habits or sin, to bear hardships with more fortitude and hope, to enjoy blessings with deeper appreciation and love, to keep striving to achieve our goals. Remember what L.M. Montgomery told us through her beloved character Anne Shirley: “Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.”
Quote 08
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” -J.R.R. Tolkien
As much as we sometimes wish we had the power to slow down or stop time or just to live in a different day and age altogether, we do not have that option. What we do have is the choice over how to spend our time and our lives. Hopefully, we decide to live them fully, and, as the saying goes, just try our best “to do the next right thing.”
In short…
A new year, begun in “the bleak, mid-winter” and inevitably filled with the good, the bad, and the ugly, is always a gift because life itself is a gift from God, and He will be right beside us to experience it all with us, no matter what.
