Celebrate The New Year

Comedian Pete Holmes once asked an audience if they were New Year’s celebrators—the kind of people who go all out at midnight, ringing in the new year with wild enthusiasm. When the crowd erupted in applause, Holmes made an intriguing point: “You know it’s been a year since it was today, right? And no one is excited.”
 
It’s a funny observation that begs the question: why don’t we celebrate like this every day?
 
Sure, the idea of throwing a nightly party with noise-makers and confetti cannons might seem over-the-top (and let’s face it, most of us couldn’t stay up until midnight every night even if we tried). But what if we approached each morning with the same sense of fresh possibility that the new year brings? What if we saw every day as a new beginning, brimming with opportunities to serve and build up God’s kingdom?  ​

I thought about this as I watched my three-year-old nephew, Neil, celebrate New Year’s Eve. He was the life of the party—greeting everyone with boundless enthusiasm, as if each person were the best gift ever.

​According to his parents, Neil consistently wakes up and goes to sleep happy, filling the hours in between with his infectious laughter and joy.
 
Henri Nouwen reminded us to welcome all of life with such unbridled delight. He wrote, “We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new.”
 
Although we officially celebrate the New Year on January 1, perhaps we can take a note from Neil’s playbook—welcoming each day with joyful exuberance, knowing it’s pregnant with possibilities to make God’s kingdom come alive in our lives with celebratory joy.

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