Hope For Today Videos

One of the ways people often seek to make the new year better than the old one, is to make New Year's resolutions.  The only problem with that is that statistics tell us that after 9 days there is a 75% failure rate in keeping the resolutions. It's no wonder we love to celebrate Christmas - the birth of Jesus Christ - the one who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Happy New Year!  We look with hope and joy at this new year, not so much because of the circumstances that we see around us, but on God’s consistent actions over time and His desire to fill us with everything good for every set of circumstances we will face in this new year.

As we look back over this past year and ahead to the new one, it’s good to remember that God always has plans for a wonderful life for us and has made many promises to us as we walk with Him.

In the middle of whatever our day looks like, let’s pause and remember the wonder of what God has done for us in giving us Jesus and is doing for us every day of our lives. 

In recovery programs we’re always encouraged to pay lots of attention to “old timers” – people who’ve gathered years of solid living and have wisdom we can benefit from. Every year I am so happy we can do that with people in the Christmas story.

We continue to reflect on Christmas during these lovely “in between days.” These are good days to hear the call of our Creator to stop and rest a while and so we want to do that today.

Well, here we are post-Christmas. For some people it’s a day to sleep late, do jigsaw puzzles, get outdoors and play in the snow, go to a movie with family or friends, or even do more shopping!! I wonder what Mary and Joseph felt on the day after Jesus’ birth as they looked at that little baby.  They both knew that this baby was a miracle. He’s here, but now what?  What does life look like going forward?

Christmas -- it really happened!  God came to our planet.  We may never comprehend how or even why He chose to do this but, the fact remains He came. Jesus has been born. Waht does that mean for us? God has come.  God is here. God is with us. 

Well we've arrived at Christmas Eve. We pray for individuals and families to be safe and healthy and in the middle of everything that is going on again this year to experience the great kindness of God shining through and bringing hope and peace.

In our celebration of Jesus earthly birth, how many of us have taken time to understand and give thanks that this same Jesus already existed with God prior to being sent into the world to save it?   Some may be exhausted by the extra demands of the season and others may struggle with loneliness because they are unable to join family gatherings.

Who’s most important?  What a great question to consider with God today as we reflect on our life with Him.

We get to light all the candles on the outside ring today.  A great reminder that the coming of Jesus is getting near – not just the celebration of His birth, but His coming again for us. Today’s candle represents “love” and we pray with others around the world today who open their hearts to be filled with God’s love.