The new year arrives with a strange kind of pressure.
It is not loud, but it is persistent. A quiet voice that counts time more aggressively than before. Suddenly, the years feel shorter. The margin for mistakes feels thinner. The world feels smaller—not because opportunities are gone, but because expectations have grown heavier.
I find myself looking at timelines I never consciously agreed to. Milestones I was supposed to have reached by now. Versions of life that were meant to be fully formed before a certain age quietly crept up on me. And standing here at the beginning of another year, I realise how easy it is to feel behind—even when you are still moving.
January does that to people.
For many young people today, especially those growing up in an age of constant comparison, the new year does not feel like a clean slate. It feels like an audit. A reminder of what should have happened by now. A measuring stick held against lives that are still unfolding.
In moments like this, I find myself returning to a simple but unsettling truth found at the very beginning of Scripture: “In the beginning, God…” (Genesis 1:1, NIV). Before progress, before pressure, before timelines and expectations—God was already there. Not reacting. Not rushing. Simply present.
That truth quietly challenges the urgency we place on our own becoming. It reminds me that beginnings are not defined by how ready we feel, but by who goes before us.
This is where Brigade speaks to me differently.
Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Brigade were never about rushing outcomes. They were about formation. About teaching us to show up consistently, to grow steadily, and to understand that character is built long before success is visible. Brigade taught patience in a world obsessed with speed, discipline in a culture that glorifies shortcuts, and faith in seasons where clarity is absent.
As a movement, we walk with young people who are still becoming—who are learning that purpose is not a race and that calling does not expire because a calendar page turned.
This year, I am learning to release the pressure to have everything figured out. To trust that becoming takes time. To believe that God’s work in us is often quieter than our timelines but far more lasting.
“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6).
The year has begun. I may not feel ready—but I am still becoming.
Scripture Reflection
Genesis 1:1 (NIV) — “In the beginning, God…”
Truth: Put God First
Before plans, pressure, expectations, or timelines—God was already there. The reminder is simple but grounding: every beginning makes sense when God is placed at the centre.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, You create great things from nothing. Go ahead of me in 2026. Amen.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026!!!
By
The Quiet Witness
