The Latin word janua means a door or window from which a person may look both ways, in other words, in and out--forward and back. Historians say that January is also derived from the name Janus, a common household god among the Romans. He was often depicted facing in two directions. Basically, he was looking forward and back. As we stand now in the month of January and at the beginning of a new year we naturally look back over the way we have come. We also naturally look ahead to the New Year and where we are going.
LOOKING BOTH WAYS!
In the ancient calendar used by the Romans, from which our calendar was created, the name of each month had a meaning. For example the month of February was so named because that was the time of the year for a feast called Februa. Some of the months were named for the gods that the Romans worshiped. March was named after Mars, the god of war. May was probably derived from the goddess Maia. June was named after the goddess Juno. The months July and August were named, respectively, after Julius Caesar and his successor, Caesar Augustus. September, October, November, and December were named for the numbers seven, eight, nine, and ten in the Latin language. That was the order in which those months fell at that time in the Roman calendar. One month in the ancient Roman calendar that had an especially descriptive name was January. The Latin word janua means a door or window from which a person may look both ways, in other words, in and out--forward and back. Historians say that January is also derived from the name Janus, a common household god among the Romans. He was often depicted facing in two directions. Basically, he was looking forward and back. As we stand now in the month of January and at the beginning of a new year we naturally look back over the way we have come. We also naturally look ahead to the New Year and where we are going.
With December and its snow storms and hectic schedule behind us, we find ourselves now in the month of January with its own set of storms. But we find ourselves also at a good spot to ask: “What kind of a New Year will it be?” I am reminded at this time of the Apostle Paul’s comment to the Corinthians when he said in I Cor. 16:9 “There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.” (NLT) I find this fitting because the last day of the old year has been closed and the door to the New Year is now open. As my favorite author, anonymous, once said: “There is an opportunity in every difficulty and a difficulty in every opportunity.” How true this is. In the course of the year there are many opportunities, some of which are missed, because of obstacles that seemed too big, obstacles that with effort might have been overcome. What a shame!
It is important for us as we stand at the threshold of a New Year to consider carefully the opportunities that God is placing before us. How sad it would be to launch into the upcoming year without considering those God given possibilities and what we might do about them.
What opportunities are there? In Romans 8:28 Paul says “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who live him and are called according to his purpose for them.” (NLT) From this I can see that God wants to use everything that comes our way a means to help us grow in the Lord. At the beginning of this year God calls us all to a deeper more intimate relationship with him and if we will allow him, He will use our circumstances whatever they might be to that end. It might seem an understatement, but I wonder if we’ve actually thought about how much we hope and plan to grow in the Lord during the year to come.
Another question we need to ask at this time is what we can do to be even more useful to the Lord in the days and months to come. Looking back on the year gone by there are certainly regrets for opportunities missed. But however much we might like to do things over, we can’t. Time wasted can’t be brought back. In another year we’ll be looking back, perhaps with regret on this year gone by. Wouldn’t be good if we could view things now, as we shall view them then? It would be good because now we can take advantage of the opportunities of the year to come. Referring back to that quote taken earlier from ‘anonymous’ I think we could say that: “A pessimist is one who sees a difficulty in every opportunity; whereas an optimist sees an opportunity in every difficulty.” My prayer for the coming year is that the eyes of our understanding will be opened so that as we stand at the door of this New Year we will ‘optimistically’ see those opportunities that God places before us and take full advantage of them.