A very Happy New Year to you all! The old one was only three hundred and sixty five days old, so hardly tired and worn out in the grand scheme of things. It was probably jam packed with beautiful times, so many things to be thankful for, miracles and blissful ordinary days. It was also, most likely, smudged with regret, sorrow, failure and some days we would rather not remember. How merciful, then, to be gifted with a brand new year; innocent, priceless, without blemish, completely untouched. A blessed chance to start over with a clean slate as we continue our journey.
Whenever we receive something new, especially something we need or have longed for, have you noticed what we do? Our eyes widen and shine and our lips make perfect circles as they whisper “wow!” Colour flushes our cheeks and chests, our breathing changes rhythm and our hearts expand. Once we have pried our surprised hands from our cheeks, we hold the newness tenderly. We are gladly attentive and instinctively know how to protect, making an almost unconscious promise that we will keep safe all that is fragile and precious. We do everything we can to keep our prized possession from being harmed or broken. 2024 is as rare a year as there ever could be; so much more than a limited edition even, it is a complete one-off and it belongs to us in all it’s exceptional uniqueness. There will never be a gift as new and unrepeated as this particular combination of days we hold in our arms right now.
These days are not to be wished away. This space in time is not to be lived at such a pace that we look back some months from now and cannot see anything but the smouldering remains of a burnout. Let’s hold this year tenderly, attentive to all the opportunities, wonders, rest, fun, hard work, people and meaningful activities that will come our way. Let’s protect the minutes and use them up on things that count. We will not get a second chance at living this particular year.
I have never managed to keep my new year’s resolutions and have done away with them altogether as I have gotten older. What I have done is made a decision to be mindful: present, aware, committed, grateful, careful, uncompromising, faithful, authentic, repentant, growing. I also want to slow down. I have a way of going fast internally even if it looks like I am doing nothing and I have found that isn’t working so well for me. You probably have to go slower in order to be present so it’s fortunate I have linked the two before the year begins. I want to treat this new year like the brand new gift it is. It might feel like an age before us but it is a moment in time in a river of history. It contains the great unknown but if we are hand in hand with the One who created time itself and knows all things, we will know what to do and when to do it. There is much to do but just like anyone would say to a young mother with her newborn babe: “Enjoy every minute, it goes by so quickly!”
Isaiah 30 v 21: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”
Isaiah 42 v 16: “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”
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