Well, it’s a new year! And it’s the first day of class here at BU… And if you’re not back on campus quite yet, you soon will be.

The start of a new year, and new academic term, serve as great reminders that we are constantly being given the chance to start anew — to start things afresh.

You know this, right?

God is always giving us the chance to start anew and afresh — in every area of our life.

So what will you do with your fresh start?

Consider these words from God, as shared by the prophet Isaiah:

This is what God says,
    the God who builds a road right through the ocean,
    who carves a path through pounding waves,
The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—
    they lie down and then can’t get up;
    they’re snuffed out like so many candles:
“Forget about what’s happened;
    don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
    rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
    —the coyotes and the buzzards—
Because I provided water in the desert,
    rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
    the people I made especially for myself,
    a people custom-made to praise me. (Isa. 43:16-21, The Message translation)

God is actively at work in His creation — making things new!

And this includes you and it includes me.

But we also know that God will not force Himself upon us. He desires that we invite Him in — that we “create space” for Him to come in and do as He pleases.

We don’t have to clean up our junk before God will come. He accepts us just as we are.

We cannot change the past.

But our past neither defines who we are, nor does it dictate our future.

God meets us — right where we find ourselves at this moment — and invites us to be a part of something new.

He is a God of new beginnings — not just at the beginning of a new year, or a new term, but each and everyday.

So — What will you do with your fresh start?