1 January

Today's the day when in 45 BC New Year's Day was celebrated on January 1st for the first time. Soon after he came to power the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar decided the Roman calendar was in serious need of reform. The old calendar was based on the cycles of the moon but regularly fell out of phase with the seasons. You can imagine the kind of thing: when you were a child it used to snow on your birthday but by the time you invite your friends round to celebrate the big 4-0 [four-oh] it's ice cream on the lawn. So Julius Caesar enlisted the help of an Alexandrian astronomer called Sosigenes who advised him to give up on the lunar cycle and follow the solar year instead. Which he did.

The solar year was calculated to be 365 ¼ days long so in 45 BC Caesar announced the new year would begin on 1st January and that every four years an extra day would be added to February to allow for the quarter day in the solar year. In case you're wondering – yes, this is also the Julius Caesar who named the month 'July' after himself.

New Year is worth celebrating but so is every day of the year. Every day we still have breath is a gift from God – a fresh canvas on which we can make a mark that will give him glory. This is how Psalm 118 encourages us to view every day:

This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

And this is the New Year the Lord has made. Whatever your hopes and fears for the coming twelve months, know that the next 365 days are each a gift from God to you.