Can you SMELL the New Year?

One of my favorite things about buying a new car is that new car smell. You know what I’m talking about.  They try to manufacture that smell in a spray bottle, but you can’t replicate it. It’s totally unique.  The smell of leather seats and carpet not yet trampled underfoot. 

My 2019 car lost that smell some time ago. I’ve had my share of other smells in my car though.  Some have been remedied by just rolling the windows down and letting it air out.  Other times it has been necessary to find the offending smell, remove it and use cleaner to kill the putrid odors .

This thought comes to me as the New Year is upon us.  I look back at 2022 and can honestly say it STUNK! It was extremely malodorous (that’s my big word for the day). It was filled with so much heartache and  loss. It was very unpleasant to my life’s olfactory system.  But as a new year approaches, I have an option. I can drag the garbage, the smell, the junk from the past into 2023, or I can do a deep clean and have my life “detailed”.  I can allow God to use His microscope on my life and see what needs to change or I can walk into 2023 with everything exactly as it is today. The choice is mine. 

I like that new car smell.  That’s how I want my new year to begin….fresh and new with endless opportunities and possibilities. The doorway to 2023 is way too narrow to drag the garbage bag from our past through it .  

Grab a mental trash bag. Begin to purge those things out of your life that are not beneficial to you. Look under the seats and in the crevices where something may have fallen, that you might not have been aware of. Then once the bag is full, THROW IT AWAY. Don’t go dumpster diving and pull out the trash to revisit later.  

Then ask the Holy Spirit to refresh and renew you. His refreshment will leave you with a better fragrance than any new car smell ever could. Walk into 2023 with hope, faith, and confidence that God is for you and not against you.  He has plans to prosper you and give you peace. (Jeremiah 29:11) Happy New Year