It's a new year. Yeah, so?

I have never really understood the complexity of what some people see as the all important "New Year's Resolution."  They have never made a lot of sense.  Really, now that I think about it, other than me writing a new year on my checkbook, I don't know that New Year's has that big of an impact on my life.

So, this troubles me a bit.  I have to be honest.  There are thousands of people who are right now working out for the first time in their lives in hopes of losing weight in 2010.  I noticed the parking lot of the gym where I belong was full this morning.  Normally, when I work out at 6:00 in the morning, there are maybe 5 others in there as well.  This morning that number quadrupled.  But why?  Why does New Year's signify the day where we have to start over?  And if there is a significance, do people actually understand why they make these resolutions?  Or do people just make them because "we have always done it that way before?"

So... it seems there is in fact history -- (knew there was)
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-New-Years-Resolutions&id=245213

The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar.

With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.

The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new.

The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted with the god Janus became more common New Year's gifts.

In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

The Julian and Gregorian calendars are solar calendars. Some cultures have lunar calendars, however. A year in a lunar calendar is less than 365 days because the months are based on the phases of the moon. The Chinese use a lunar calendar. Their new year begins at the time of the first full moon (over the Far East) after the sun enters Aquarius- sometime between January 19 and February 21.

Although the date for New Year's Day is not the same in every culture, it is always a time for celebration and for customs to ensure good luck in the coming year.

Ancient New Years

The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 23, although they themselves had no written calendar.

Late March actually is a logical choice for the beginning of a new year. It is the time of year that spring begins and new crops are planted. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.

The Babylonian New Year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year's Eve festivities pale in comparison.

The Romans continued to observe the New Year on March 25, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the New Year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the New Year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

It all makes sense really.  Out with the old and in with the new seems logical but then, don't we do that everyday really?  Martin Luther talked about remembering his Baptism each morning when he washed his face.  Baptism is yet another "out with the old and in with the new."  Why then do we not celebrate the anniversary of our Baptism as our "New Year?"  When one goes from being single to married that is a BIG "out with the old and in with the new" time.  Of course I did that on January 2, 1999 so New Year's was pretty close there.

I guess it all comes down to the important things in your life.  For many in 12 step programs, the day they became sober, or the day they stopped whatever addiction they had becomes a MAJOR new years experience.  Those times when they totally changed their life for the better.

I don't know that I have had a mindblowing, life changing New Year experience that I can really look back on and say "WOW my life just changed.  I don't ever want to go back."  Sure, I have had small ones throughout my life -- those milestones that I always look back on with great fondness.  And, I guess that is ok.  New Year's will always be just another day for me.  It is a day that means I have to write a new date on the checkbook.  It is a day that means I have to do an Annual Report at church.  That really is all it is though.  The little milestones in my life mean so much more.  The times in my life where I can look back and smile and say, "Wow, I think my life just changed and I don't want to go back."

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!


AMEN