New Year's Day | JOY for Today

We believe there is merit to finding JOY in every day and reflecting on our past as we look forward to the future. To support commemoration of daily holidays in the classroom, as a family, or individually, we plan to sprinkle “blog”fetti here and there throughout your year.

Each holiday post will feature:
Just click the link to what interests you or read on through. We are thrilled to celebrate our way through 2022 with you!

Fireworks over water and a cityscape background with Happy New Year message and verse in foreground (Eph. 4:22-24, paraphrased)

Facts about New Year’s Day

  1. New Year’s celebrations are an ancient tradition, at least 4000 years old.
  2. The New Year used to be celebrated on the first day of spring (a.k.a. the vernal equinox).
  3. Emperor Julius Caesar of Rome named January the beginning of the year.
  4. Janus, January’s namesake, is a Roman god with two faces: one for looking back on the past and one into the future.
We’d Love to Know: Which time of year do you think makes more sense for New Year’s celebrations: the first day of spring or the beginning of January? Comment below to let us know.

Read more about New Year’s Day at history.com.

Personal Connection

We have always celebrated New Year’s Day. As kids, it was the thrill of being able to stay up late. As adults, we use it as an opportunity to reevaluate or lives and consider changes for the future. A tradition we’ve recently taken up is choosing a word for the year as well as a resolution. My words have been treasured (2020), joy (2021), and fight (2022).

Indeed, I’ve designed our 2022 calendar around "fight," my word for this year. If you’d like to join us in a year of growth in refining values and standing up for personal beliefs, we’d love to have you. Simply click this link  to find out more. The word for January is CHOOSE and the goal is to define personal values and make choices that reflect them.

While my words for each year may seem straight forward, I find it interesting that my resolutions don’t seem to directly connect.

2020

  • Word: Treasured
  • Resolution: To speak only kindness about others.

2021

  • Word: Joy
  • Resolution: To make choices without feeling guilty.

2022

  • Word: Fight
  • Resolution: To choose to keep my thoughts in a positive place.
We’d Love to Know: What New Year’s traditions do you uphold? If you choose a word, what is your word for this year?


Biblical Tie-In

And now, a Bible verse to encourage you in whatever your goals are for 2022:
So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to – the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.
Ephesians 4:22-24
If New Year’s to you is about making changes and taking on new habits, this verse should weave in nicely. You can break it down in three steps:
  1. Throw out what is old, that which YOU KNOW is bad for you.
  2. Renew your heart and mind – think new thoughts; believe true things.
  3. Remind your new self that YOU are empowered by God – you are capable of making true choices that are upright and holy.
We’d Love to Know: What Bible verse or story is on your mind this New Year?

Activity Suggestion: Goal Setting

Goal setting as a family or classroom community models for learners that reaching a goal takes time and effort. Start by setting a group goal, then work on setting individual goals. Download a printable version of this post (with additional Bible verses and quotes) FREE! from our Teachers Pay Teachers store.
We’d Love to Know: What activity do you enjoy doing with your learners or family to kick off a New Year?

As you celebrate New Year's Day, we hope you find JOY in the moment and hope for the future!

Fighting the good fight with you,
A red stew bowl with steam rising from the top, "Wolfe Stew" written in gray lettering on bowl.

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