7 A final word

In an address he gave at a BYU devotional in 2009, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "The start of a new year is the traditional time to take stock of our lives and see where we are going, measured against the backdrop of where we have been" (Ensign, Jan. 2010, "The Best Is Yet to Be," 22).

"As a new year begins," he continued, "I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives."

" . . . God doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go. . . . This is an important matter to consider at the start of a new year—and every day ought to be the start of a new year and a new life. Such is the wonder of faith, repentance, and the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

And then this Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ marvelously concludes: "Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the 'high priest of good things to come' (Hebrews 9:11).

"Keep your eyes on your dreams, however distant and far away. Live to see the miracles of repentance and forgiveness, of trust and divine love that will transform your life today, tomorrow, and forever."

Some good food for thought here. We serve it up as our New Year's wish to each of you.