Lay Down Your Rocks

January is always a month of new beginnings. Regardless of what happened in the previous year, we now pass from the old into the new, and there is something about the new that gives us a spirit of hope. There is something clean about being new. The slate is clean. I may have messed up last year, but now I can try again. A new year gives us a world of possibilities and a fresh start. The problem is most of the time we find the New Year ends up like previous years. We come into the year with high goals and leave defeated. Another year has passed, and I have not changed one bit. One reason for this failure is the baggage we choose to bring with us. Max Lucado describes this baggage as a sack of rocks. We bring with us into the new year rocks of past rejection, rocks of regret, guilt, misplaced priorities, or worry. We carry this sack on our back and wonder why we become so weary, why we are not able to make any spiritual progress. 

If I have described you, I give you good news. We don’t have to carry these sacks. Matthew 11:28 states; “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  Jesus invites us to lay our sack of rocks at his feet. He invites us to come to him, and he will truly give us a clean slate.  As we begin this New Year, lay your sack of rocks at the feet of Jesus and allow him to carry you through this year. The time is now to walk a different way. The time is now to navigate the pathway of new life in Jesus Christ.