A New Year, A New Heart

Releasing Bitterness so it Does Not Poison Your Heart.

What if the best resolution you could make this year isn’t about your waistline, your wallet, or your schedule — but your heart?

I once heard a little boy say that holding a grudge is like carrying a backpack full of bricks. Initially, you can manage your weight. But the longer you have it, the heavier it feels. Sometimes, we step into a new year still carrying the bricks of old hurts, especially in our families.

Maybe you’ve been wronged by someone close to you. Perhaps you feel disappointed, let down, or even ashamed of a family member who doesn’t live by Christ’s standards. The temptation is to avoid them altogether, to hold onto coldness or even bitterness. Yet Christ calls us to something different — a new heart.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness doesn’t mean pretending the wrong never happened. It means releasing the bitterness so it no longer poisons your heart.

Even if you need healthy distance, you can still offer kindness: a smile, a hello, or a gentle word. In doing so, you reflect Christ’s light, and your example may be the very thing God uses to draw that person closer to Him.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." — Psalm 51:10 (ESV)

Jesus forgave even those who nailed Him to the cross. He calls us to let go of anger and unforgiveness, not because the other person always deserves it, but because He has forgiven us. In Christ, we don’t have to carry last year’s bricks into the new year. We can start fresh, with a heart made new.

Black-Eyed Peas with Smoked Sausage

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups dried or canned black-eyed peas

    (Soak dried peas overnight )

  • 1 smoked sausage, sliced

  • 1 onion, diced

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

  • 4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)

  • 1 bay leaf

  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. In a large pot, sauté the sausage until browned. Remove and set aside.

  2. Add onion and garlic; cook until softened.

  3. Stir in black-eyed peas, broth, and bay leaf.

  4. Simmer until peas are tender (about 45 minutes if dried, 20 minutes if canned).

  5. Add the sausage back in, season to taste, and serve hot, accompanied by collard greens and cornbread.

New Year’s tradition suggests that black-eyed peas symbolize humility, greens represent prosperity, and cornbread signifies wealth —

But as Christians, we recognize that every blessing comes from God, not chance.