The Blessings of a New Year
by Reinder Bruinsma | 31 December 2024 |
In my native Dutch language we wish people either a “happy” or a “blessed” new year. There’s an origin story about this difference: those with a Protestant heritage prefer the term “happy,” while people with a Roman Catholic background opt for “blessed.” I like both of these concepts: human happiness and divine blessing.
During the last week of the year countless good wishes are exchanged. They come in personal form as we meet people, or through cards in the mail, or via email and the various social media, and as we Zoom, Facetime, or use other techniques to get in touch with one another.
Has all this new-year-wishing become a rather empty tradition? Or is it a meaningful interaction that we must not lose?
I, for one, attach real significance to it. I want to briefly share what a happy and blessed new year means for me:
- It is easy to take for granted that I have a roof over my head, a bed to sleep in, and my “daily bread” on the table. However, just a few days ago I watched a TV program about the dozens of homeless people in a town near where we live. Men and women told their sad story. In many cases, through no direct fault of their own, they no longer had a roof, nor enough income to buy food. I realized that it would be impossible for me to feel happy and blessed without having these basic necessities of life.
- Good health is a blessing and a close pendant of happiness. For me personally this was, in particular, brought home to me by a constant stream of bad news from family and friends, and many others whom we know well, about cancers that have just been diagnosed, brain tumors that have been detected, and various serious chronic diseases and addictions, apart from broken hips and other disabilities. As I see, and feel, advanced age slowly creeping up on me, my daily dose of pills has gone up and doctors’ visits have become a bit more frequent. To remain reasonably healthy in 2025 would certainly be a precious blessing and a source of happiness.
- Two bloody world wars put their stamp on the twentieth century. International organizations—such as the UN, NATO, and the European Union—may have their weaknesses, but they have done much to ensure peace, at least in the part of the world where I live. But in Ukraine and Gaza, every day hundreds, if not thousands, lose their lives. Elsewhere in the world, wars continue to destroy the lives of untold numbers of men, women, and children. Reports of violence in many countries around the world remind me how peace is a prerequisite for a happy and blessed existence.
- Just a week ago my wife, Aafje, and I celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary. As 2025 begins we have just started our 61st year of life together. We got married in our early twenties—you can do the arithmetic. Our happiness will be closely linked to the blessing of remaining together for, hopefully, many years to come. Each time when we celebrate that we have been happily married for another year, we are reminded that many of our relatives and friends have experienced how their partner was taken away from them and how difficult it is for them to rebuild their lives with a certain degree of happiness. A happy and blessed new year is a year together with the one who is our life’s companion.
- A happy new year will be a year in which we can enjoy the love and companionship of family and friends. It is something that becomes more meaningful as the years go by. And as time passes, it becomes more urgent to do all we can to restore relationships that have become strained or disrupted. It will give added happiness when such efforts are successful.
- Financial security is definitely also an important aspect of happiness. It may feel as something we have earned through hard work, without always sufficiently realizing how much this is due to divine blessings. As 2025 begins, I trust the monthly pension payments from the state and from the church will keep coming. I sincerely hope I will not face any dramatic unexpected expenses, and that we will also be able and willing to share some of what we have with others. Sometimes I dream of a sudden windfall—enabling me to go with my wife on a cruise to the Arctic waters, or to put a serious amount of money in the bank accounts of our children—but a sense of gratitude for all that we have, and for the comfortable way we can live, soon overrules those fantasies.
- Being retired has many advantages. One is that you have much more freedom than before in choosing what projects to work on. For me, living a happy and fulfilled life does not equal an end to all projects. I get a great deal of satisfaction from preaching and lecturing, and from writing, and I hope that 2025 will be another year of active retirement, with the creation of some new books and regular articles and blogs.
- Many people are perfectly happy if they never travel outside of a 50-mile radius from their home. I have never belonged to that tribe. I thoroughly enjoy traveling, seeing new places and revisiting places that hold pleasant memories. Gradually our foreign travel has slowed down. But it would certainly give us pleasure if we could in 2025 go and see our grandchildren again in Sweden, perhaps pay another visit to the United States, visit family in Canada, and (who knows?) meet friends in Australia. An important aspect of a happy and blessed life is a continued enjoyment of culture, and we hope that 2025 will not disappoint us in this respect.
- Finally, 2025 can become a truly blessed year only if I continue my pilgrimage of faith—ever finding new depth and inspiration. Following in the footsteps of the eleventh-century St. Anselm of Canterbury, my “faith seeks further understanding” helps me to find inner strength when facing the challenges that will undoubtedly also come in the new year, and allows me to support other fellow-travelers along the road of life. Moreover, it would greatly enhance my happiness if I would see my local and global Adventist faith community “grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” and enact some of the changes which I—together with many others—have long been hoping for.
This is what a happy and blessed new year means for me. I wish you the same happiness and divine blessing as you transfer and adapt these words to your own life situation at the beginning of 2025.
Reinder Bruinsma lives in the Netherlands with his wife, Aafje. He has served the Adventist Church in various assignments in publishing, education, and church administration on three continents. He still maintains a busy schedule of preaching, teaching, and writing. He writes at http://reinderbruinsma.com/.
His latest book is Adventists and Catholics: The History of a Turbulent Relationship.
