Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5.17)

Is there anywhere better than to start at the beginning? Like the first day of a new year brought in with fanfare and fireworks, everything is new. Everything is perfect, crisp, clean. But life doesn't often stay in pristine order. A new year is met with new year's resolutions hoping for better things. But things fall apart. Happy moments fall into waves of sadness. Life itself fades away and the beginning is lost over the horizon, left only to memory. Creation begins to creak and seams become torn.

And this is where we find an aspect of Jesus' beauty. Jesus, who was from the beginning and made all things, knew that his freewill creation would soil the image of God found in our souls. He knew as the days stretched into millennia we would lose sight of our Creator and the image He imprinted on us. We can look back over the sin and failure of our lives and recognize that Jesus is not surprised. He knew we would fail.

If we are in Christ we are not only created but recreated. We are made new again. We find in Jesus our Savior, our Creator and Re-Creator. The old and torn image of His love, distorted by our sin, has been made new. As we start this new year we can look on the face of our Lord Jesus who placed breath in our lungs and a new beginning before our feet.

So there is somewhere better to start at than the beginning: a new beginning. Thank you, Jesus, for making me new.