Nothing magical happens at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve! Many things happen, though — like fireworks, resolutions, midnight church services, the ball dropping at Times Square, and much more. Some may sing “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish song first published by poet Robert Burns but made popular by bandleader Guy Lombardo.

On New Year’s Day, many families will gather around the table to enjoy their particular meal tradition. At our house it is black-eyed peas, collards, pork, and other side dishes and desserts. This goes back several generations in my family. The black-eyed peas are supposed to represent coins, and the collards symbolize folding money. The idea is to eat as much as you can of those two things so you will have plenty of money in the new year. In the interest of full disclosure, I have tried it since I was a boy — it doesn’t work.

There are many different traditions for celebrating or ushering in the New Year around the world. In Spain, there is a custom of eating 12 grapes at midnight in order to have 12 good or happy months. Drawing the first bucket of water from the well in the New Year, called the cream of the well, was an old English custom with an unusual emphasis. The myth was that if a woman bathed in that water she would become beautiful.

There are numerous practices and superstitions that abound for New Year’s Day. Traditions aside, we have a tendency to measure time by years. How old will you be this year? How long have you lived where you live? How long have you been married? There are so many other examples of how we measure time in years, but the really significant thing is that a new year brings with it opportunities, surprises and many unknowns.

Stuart Hamblen, who was converted to Christ in the 1949 Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles, wrote a song, “It Is No Secret.” The first line of that song says, “The chimes of time ring out the news; another day is through. Someone slipped and fell. Was that someone you? You may have longed for added strength, your courage to renew. Do not be disheartened, for I bring hope to you. It is no secret what God can do.”

This New Year, someone may fall or be discouraged. Some will die, and others will find an unexpected blessing. In this year, somebody will come to know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. Someone else may be helped by what you say or what you do. You may be blessed by someone else. If we can capture the sentiment of Hamblen’s song, we will be encouraged by what our God can do in this world and in our lives.

Each day we live is another opportunity. I want to recommend a verse for you to consider for 2016: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” What Jesus is telling us is not to worry, but to trust Him. Join me in making that our focus for this year.