A new perspective for a new year.

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.” Psalm 39

I’ve never been a fan on New Year’s Eve, even when I was an avid drinker, but I‘ve always been inspired by the gift of a new year. Regardless of my countless failed efforts, I’ve always found inspiration in making resolutions and goals for the new year. I don’t know if it’s because we are entering a new decade, or because I have reached a point in life where there are more days behind me than there are ahead, but my perspective this year seems different. My list is shorter, but deeper, this year. Like the psalmist, I find myself looking at what really matters because my days are limited, and life fleeting. It’s an awakening of sorts, and I’m glad to have been given it, but I haven’t enjoyed what brought me here:

Sitting beside a godmother struggling with cancer, knowing this would be the last time we’d see each other on this side of eternity.

Reading the entry of a beautiful, young mother on Caring Bridge as she maintains a positive attitude through an out-of-nowhere cancer diagnosis.

Meeting with someone whose been told to retire, doctor’s order, and watching as she look’s at her life’s legacy with glistening eyes.

Reading the obituary of friend who was in the class above me in high school.

Seeing an empty seat in my morning twelve-step recovery group that used to be occupied by someone who went back out and never returned.

Such moments have pointed me not to the sadness of my life’s limit, but to the importance of the time I have left. I pray it will inspire me to squeeze my loved ones more tightly, sing more loudly, and laugh more often this year. I hope it will inspire me to say yes to things that matter and no to those that do not. I hope it will change the appointments on my calendar and, in my checkbook, show increased generosity to charities working closer to the ground. 

This new year is a gift. May we receive it as such, remembering those for whom it has not been given, and making the most of every single moment it contains.