What Does “Happy New Year” Mean?
I didn’t wish many people a Happy New Year this time. When I did I hesitated. It may be nitpicking semantics, but “Happy New Year” isn’t what I want to convey.
Every time I read it or said it, I thought of the friend who recently said, “All I want is to be happy!” From the circumstances that led to the comment, it seemed she meant, “All I want is to have an easy life of abundance and for everything to go my way.”
It sometimes seems that others experience an easy life, void of suffering, but it is not a realistic expectation. Everybody faces struggles. Trials are part of life.
Furthermore, a life that is focused on Me and what I want is empty. It isn’t fulfilling. Self-focused “happy” is shallow and quickly loses satisfaction.
Instead of Happy New Year, I wanted to say, “Be blessed in the Lord in the New Year!” or, “May the Lord be with you throughout the New Year.”
This is probably a late post, but I’ve kept thinking about it.
As I pondered, I recalled that in the Old Testament and the New, the words translated as blessed (H = asher; G = makarios) can also be translated as happy. Consequently, saying, “Happy New Year” could be the same as “Have a blessed New Year.” At least it could be if the double meaning is commonly understood.
And then again, doesn’t being “blessed” generally carry the connotation that all is going well and everything is going my way? We hear it that way because that’s our desire.
In Matthew 5, Jesus began His teaching by saying we are blessed (happy) when we are poor in spirit, we mourn, and are gentle, merciful, and pure in heart. That stretches our idea of what it takes to be happy, but not so much as the thought of hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Even though the longing is for righteousness, not food, it doesn’t seem happy or blessed to be hungry and thirsty.
Our notion of being happy or blessed is really stretched when Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (v. 10) and “Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me” (v. 11). I don’t believe that’s what we’re thinking of when we wish our friends happiness in the New Year.
Jesus goes on to say, “Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great” (v. 12). They are linked together. Blessings, happiness, and rejoicing is to be measured by our rewards in heaven—i.e. with how much God is pleased with our heart condition, not by our level of comfort or how pleased we are that things are going our way.
While I hope your year is prosperous and comfortable, my deepest wish for you is happiness and blessings that comes from being pleasing to God and reaping heavenly rewards. May you be blessed in knowing that God is with you in (what we consider) the good times and bad.
Those blessing are not fleeting. They have eternal value.
When you wish someone a “Happy New Year,” is it just a social courtesy, or a meaningful greeting? If it’s meaningful, what are you imagining?