New Year, best year

Someone on the radio said this to his radio audience: "May this be the best year of your life." You sure hope so! In fact, you may settle for a good year.

How can we make this year the best year of our lives – or try to make it the best year of our lives? So many times we go through the New Year in a fog and sometimes we crash and burn. How do we "grab the bull by the horns" and take control of the situation, come what may? We find that when we grab this year by the horns sometimes we find ourselves in for a wild ride.

Randy Kilgore wrote this: "Sometimes this journey through life can be so difficult that we're simply overwhelmed, and it seems there's no end to the darkness. During such a time in our family's life, my wife emerged one morning from her quiet time with a new lesson learned. 'I think God wants us not to forget in the light what we're learning in this darkness.'"

She was right; if we let God guide us in the hard times, we will come through in flying colors or at least stronger.

In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25), Matthew gives the results of a servant who received a responsibility of five talents. He took the five talents and invested them and had the best year of his life because he did what his master told him to do. His master said this about his servant who doubled his money: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:21). Wow, what a compliment his master gave him. He relied on his master's wisdom and guidance and had the best year of his life.

In like manner, God gives us many talents: wisdom, guidance, direction, strength and His divine power to do the impossible. We have our best year or a year that pleases the Lord. Best year or not, if we have pleased our Master, we know we have had the best year of our lives.