So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. – Ruth 4:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 1, 2016): Ruth 4

Happy New Year! The page has finally been turned and we have our new beginning. Our ritual insists that this is the day for life change – and in many ways it really is. We stand with the year in front of us instead of behind us. It seems easier on a day like today to decide that things really can be different, that we can make the changes that we need to make in our lives. Whatever that change is, today might be the day of decision, but if our resolutions are going to last for the long haul, then something fundamental needs to change inside of us – and inside of me. (Incidentally, this blog started as a New Year’s resolution seven years ago today. It has gone through some changes, but it started as nothing more than a resolution.)

I know, sometimes we tire of making resolutions that we simply do not have the will to make into a new lifestyle, and there are many around me that have simply given up on the idea of making New Year’s resolutions. But somehow that seems sad to me - that we could have given up on trying to make our lives – and the lives of those around us – better, just because keeping a resolution is hard. We don’t need fewer resolutions, we need more. And we need ways of making the changes stick as the pages of the calendar begin to flip through the seasons of the year. Today we have a beautiful symbol staring us in the face – a new year that is completely a blank slate. It is something with which we can do marvelous things, if we really want to make the change.

A baby is born into the house of Boaz and Ruth. And while the New Year is a symbol of change, a Baby makes that change very real. It is a not a resolution that can be walked away from when it becomes inconvenient. A baby changes everything that we do. They are the resolutions that keep on giving throughout the length of the year. But the amazing thing about this baby, born to this Moabite woman and Hebrew man, is the change that he would bring to Israel. For this child would become the grandfather of Israel’s greatest king – David. David would become a turning point for the nation, and his beginning is intimately tied to this story of Boaz and Ruth – and the birth of the son that they would share together.

This was an important moment of time because of the change that was brought – and change that came from a very unlikely spot and a moment that turned a story of tragedy into one of success – all because a son was born.

I have no idea what this year might hold. I am sure for most of us it will have its share of good and bad – every year does. But we can resolve today that no matter what happens, we will be the agents of change that God wants us to be. Because today we give birth to a baby that will mature with changing pages of the calendar. This year is a life that has been given to us to mold.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Judges 9