There’s a short window on a poured glass of bourbon.
Leave it out overnight and it can turn cloudy by morning. The aromas flatten. The magic fades. Whatever chemistry makes a good pour special doesn’t linger long once it’s exposed. A forgotten glass isn’t redeemed—it’s usually poured down the sink.
But a forgotten bottle? That’s another story.
Every now and then I’ll be digging through the cabinet or rearranging a shelf and spot one tucked behind the usual suspects. A bottle I’d set aside for “later.” One I meant to come back to. One I’d completely forgotten was there.
And suddenly my eyes light up.
Not because it changed while I wasn’t looking—but because it didn’t. The cork held. The spirit waited. What was good then is still good now, maybe even better appreciated because time has added distance and perspective.
That feels like the New Year to me.
We tend to frame this season around fresh starts—clean slates, bold resolutions, dramatic reinventions. But Scripture often points us in a quieter direction. God’s work isn’t always about replacement. Sometimes it’s about preservation.
Ecclesiastes reminds us, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Not rushed. Not forced. Not forgotten—just waiting for the right moment.
Some things in our lives are like that bottle on the back shelf.
A relationship we neglected.
A calling we set aside.
A gift we assumed we’d missed our chance to use.
We mistake delay for loss. But God does not.
What He guards is not wasted. What He sets aside is not abandoned. “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29) They don’t expire just because we stopped paying attention.
As the calendar turns, maybe the invitation isn’t just to pour something new, but to take stock of what’s been quietly waiting—kept intact by grace, not ruined by time.
Here’s to the forgotten pour—not the one left out overnight, but the one preserved until we were finally ready to appreciate it.
Cheers to second chances. 🥃
Copyright © 2025 by Doug DeBolt.
