2 Jan, 2009
'08 goes straight in the shredder
New Yorkers put the tanking economy at the top of their list of things to forget about 2008.
Scores of people headed to Times Square Sunday to feed this year's bad memories through an industrial-sized paper shredder on the second annual "Good Riddance Day."
"I'm shredding my 401(k)," said Barbara Backer, 55, a recently retired professor from Manhattan, who watched her retirement account dwindle to a fraction of its former size. She fed stacks of account statements through the massive machine placed at W. 47th St. and Broadway. The shredding couldn't make her financial stresses go away, but it did provide some relief, she said.
Linda Kaizer, 44, of Manhattan, brought three large trash bags full of bills and financial documents to shred. One bag was so overstuffed that it split open, spilling paperwork all over Broadway. "It's all got to go one way or another," she said.
Donna Roberts, 38, of Queens, lost her job in 2008. She brought copies of her bills to put through the machine. "This year was really hard on me financially," she said. "This gives me a new start for 2009."
Wrecked finances weren't the only targets for the shredder.
New Yorker Jay Ballesteros won a $250 prize for the most creative object to be shredded. He trashed a sock representing all of the socks that emerge from the laundry without their mates. "I'm hoping to use the prize to buy some brand-new socks," he said.
Getting rid of whatever stresses you out is what Good Riddance Day is all about, organizer Tim Tompkins said. "There's funny and silly stuff, and there's heavy-duty stuff being shredded," he said. "It's a way to put it all behind you."
Story and Photo found at www.news.yahoo.com.
Good Riddance!
Psalm 103:8-12 (NLT)
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
9 He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
10 He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
What does God's Story Scripture teach us about putting the past behind us?
Often when we turn the page on another year, we try to put the past behind us and get off to a new start. There is no better place to look for what a new start looks like than God's Story.
Check out the Study Notes from the Life Application Study Bible on Psalm 103:12:
East and west can never meet. This is a symbolic portrait of God's forgiveness: When he forgives our sin, he separates it from us and doesn't even remember it. We need never wallow in the past, for God forgives and forgets. We tend to dredge up the ugly past, but God has wiped our record clean. If we are to follow God, we must model his forgiveness. When we forgive another, we must also forget the sin. Otherwise we have not truly forgiven.
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?
- Is there something in your past you have been hanging on to? Write it down, then put it through a shredder or just rip it to pieces by hand. As you destroy it, ask God for his forgiveness.
- Now, thank God for His forgiveness of your sins.
- Read Psalm 103 a few times today and make it your own personal prayer.
How can we connect today's story, God's Story scripture and our story to others?
- Is there someone you say you have forgiven, but you have continued to remember their sin? Ask God for his help to truly forgive them.
- Is there someone you know who is having a hard time letting go of something in the past? Say a prayer for that person today.
- Get in touch with that same person today and ask them if you can read today's psalm to them.
- Make a decision today to model God's forgiveness by truly forgiving others throughout 2009.
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