Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, January 7, 2026
If you read my last blog from a week ago, you might have noticed that I titled it “Fresh Start”, so this newest edition’s title isn’t too far off from the last. Am I running out of themes, ideas, or words? No, this particular similarity was intentional. Here’s why.
If you haven’t noticed, around this time of year, at least for the first couple weeks of January, you hear a lot about new starts, new beginnings, new goals, etc. Slowly, we see those “calls to action” disappear from the spotlight, and things go back to normal.
The beauty of God’s love and acceptance has nothing to do with the time of the year. He doesn’t forgive us ONLY during the first week of January. He doesn’t give us the opportunity to have a clean slate ONLY in the first month of the new year. No. God gives those same chances, those same do-overs, every time we genuinely ask.
This image was taken a couple days ago, at sunrise, just as the sun was peeking over the Cascade mountains, painting the morning clouds with rays of red and orange hues. It’s a new morning, a fresh start, and a new beginning.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
What a marvelous and loving God we serve. Embrace His gift to us — forgiveness and redemption — each and every day.