From Now On…

(For today’s Five Minute Friday – January 8 – I am sharing a post I had recently written for the new year, as it is “timely”!)

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NRSV)

As I reflect at year’s end and look toward the new year, the phrase, “from now on…” is blessing my thoughts. I’m noticing that this phrase may well describe the core of my faith; the hope and joy I find in the love of God. Much of what God promises, much of what Jesus has said or done, speaks to us about this time forward – how we are invited to live from now on. These words will be a centering part of my guiding theme for the new year.

This new year gives us a tangible reminder that we can begin afresh. We have a new page on the calendar, a “clean slate” to write new chapters of our life. God in Christ offers us a from now on perspective of hope and joy, by forgiving us our past mistakes, by working to make good from all our experiences, and by promising us God’s loving presence through every future day.

With this from now on idea in mind, our New Year resolutions may include some of these:

~ From now on, even if our difficult circumstances do not change, our actions and attitudes can. We can persevere with peace, we can look for ways to learn and grow, we can live our lives as examples of patience and faithful trust.

~ From now on, even if our pleasant circumstances do change, our attitudes and actions won’t need to. We can live in gratitude for what was and what is, we can keep moving forward in hope, we can live our lives as examples of joyful optimism and humble grace.

~ From now on, we can invite the wounds and hurts of our past to transform and improve us. We can regard them as part of our perfecting journey, allowing them to teach, reveal, and mature us into true and Christ-like people.

~ From now on, we can live in ways that will foster a brighter and better world, to have learned from the mistakes of our past.

~ From now on, we can live in the freedom and joy of being beloved children of God, and help others to know that they are, too.

Nearly every year, while I consider my resolutions, I include several previous ones because I have not yet been able to keep them! There have been very few resolutions that have stuck completely for life. This reveals the best part of our from now on faith in the love of God…

God gives us that promise of fresh new beginnings every single day, every single moment! The resolutions we have failed to accomplish, the promises we have failed to keep, the perspectives we have failed to maintain, are forgiven and forgotten. And if we choose, these same resolutions, promises, and perspectives are now freely offered to us as “do-overs.” God gives us infinite chances to try again.

God’s from now on is constant and eternal. Every moment with God becomes a from now on turning point. Every moment is a new opportunity to say, “From now on…”

~ From now on, we can try to live as God would have us live, trusting that when we fail, God will give us yet another from now on to begin anew.

But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”
– Lamentations 3:21-24 (NRSV)

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6 (NRSV)



(Five Minute Friday is an online writing community. Each week, we are given a one word prompt and five minutes to write! For more posts and information, visit FMF Writing Prompt Link-up :: Time – Five Minute Friday)

Photo by ASHLEY EDWARDS on Unsplash

Bible verses copied from BibleGateway.com