Settling all past claims...

Cheers to the furrows on our brow To each hard won victory
Cheers to the losses that grew us up
Killed our pride and filled our cup
Brooke FraserThere can be a bitter-sweetness in the waning moments of the year. The sweet longings and hope for new {and better} days ahead can be tempered by memories of wasted opportunities and regrets of the past - and I tend to remember them all.

It's not always bad to remember. It keeps me humble. Oswald Chambers says this...

 God reminds us of the past to protect us from a very shallow security in the present.

It would be foolish pride for me to say I have no regrets, but humility is not self-flagellating defeat. In My Utmost for His Highest, Chambers goes on to say this...

God's hand reaches back to the past, settling all the claims against our conscience...let the past rest...in the sweet embrace of Christ.

So as I walk into the gift of this new year, I remember opportunities lost that I might "grow up in every way" but with the sure hope that all my days have been redeemed on the cross.

{Photo} New Years Eve fire by the pond