2022: New or Same?

Ringing in the New Year can sometimes be daunting. Is it a reset, clean slate, fresh beginning; or is it a continuation of what we learned last year but with different goals to work towards? Is it really a New Year or could we refer to it as Same Year? 

I don’t mean the ‘same’ as in nothing changes going forward. But what if we weren’t so quick to forget the year before? What if there were lessons learned and growth opportunities experienced that were meant to be carried with us into the changing of a year? 

There is something refreshing about a new year, and there is nothing wrong with wanting a different rhythm. With each year we can sometimes have the expectation that “this is the year”, or “ bye 2021, hello 2022” yet there are still so many beautiful things to hang on to. The world and the circumstances we face everyday are constantly changing. We continue to learn how to hope, how to plan, how to persevere, and how to be flexible. 

Can we hope, plan, persevere, and be flexible in this new year while simultaneously holding on to past lessons, growth points, and nuggets of wisdom to carry us through in a healthier way?

Exodus 12 is all about preparation for the Passover. There are several sets of instructions about various things that the people of Israel needed to follow. One of the specific instructions pertained to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was connected to the Passover (12:7-8). 

The people of Israel were to hold this feast as a memorial (celebration), and as a permanent ordinance of what the Lord had done; passed over the houses that put blood on their doorposts. The Lord would relent from disaster, plague, and destruction. 

The Egyptian bondage and trauma of the last plague in Exodus 11 was a hard lesson for everyone involved and it was to be remembered for two reasons: 

1. So the lesson wouldn’t have to be repeated in the future. 
2. So all other generations would know they had a lot to be thankful for from the Lord.  

Are there things you learned in the season of 2021 that are worth remembering for the future? 

Are those things worth taking into 2022 and sharing with others?

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1. Michael Rydelnik, and Michael Vanlaningham, “Exodus by Kevin D. Zuber,” in The Moody Bible Commentary, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 129, 130.