2024: A Year to Write About.

It had been a particularly hard year for her, the kind where on some days putting one foot in front of the other was a heroic accomplishment. She made it, and yet she felt out of breath as she put the Christmas decorations away. Slowly, her thoughts went from the year ending to the one about to begin, and she came up with a wonderful idea I want to pass along to you.

She decided to write herself a letter and place it in the box with the Christmas tree ornaments, a letter with all her hopes and dreams for the year ahead. Next year when she opens the box, she’ll have a “conversation” with her younger self and see what hopes and dreams came true. My guess is there will be some accomplishments as well as some disappointments, some predictable things as well as some surprises.

Although my year has not been as hard as hers, the idea of writing such a letter and putting it away until next December is intriguing. Not only does it demand intentional thought about the year ahead, it also allows me to see all that God does in my life in a year.

Unlike the woman who told me about her spiritual idea, I don’t have as many years ahead as I do behind. Time has become more precious, doing things that matter has become increasingly important. Looking ahead and dreaming is a wonderful way to spend my first day of the year. Then, I need to fold up the letter and get on with the year ahead. There will never be another year like it, nor will I ever be as young and able as I am right now.

Time to get writing. Then, time to get living.

Happy New Year!

Entrance Ramps

On the way home from a holiday party, I came to a new perspective on the days between Christmas and New Year’s Day. After some back road twists and turns, I finally reached the interstate where I turned onto the entrance ramp and picked up speed before joining the other cars. I’ve seen people meander down the entrance ramp rather than use it to get up to speed and then try to merge onto the highway at a perilously slow speed. “The ramp is to get you ready for the highway,” someone once pointed out, and I never forgot it.

In the solitude of my car, I realized the days after Christmas and before the new year are like an entrance ramp. They offer us the opportunity to get up to speed before beginning the journey of another year. Some see these days as opportunities to continue feasting knowing the time to diet and exercise will come soon enough. They decide they want to read more but don’t start until the new year begins. They meander through the final days of December then struggle when the new year begins . . . physically, spiritually, and/or professionally.

Better to get ready by picking up speed, deciding what you’ll be working on in the new year, begin moving, and increase your speed. Then, when January 1st arrives, you’ll be moving and able to enter the new year more smoothly.

Happy New Year and good luck!

Light in Darkness

I think I’ve always been afraid of the dark.

When I was a child, it was the darkness of my room and the boogie man in the closet. At camp, it was the darkness of the woods at night and animals waiting to pounce. Now, it’s not the external darkness that haunts me, it’s the internal darkness, and it’s all I can do to keep it at bay this time of year.

Make no mistake, I used to be “Mr. Christmas.” Just ask my siblings who still roll their eyes when they think of the boy who shook with excitement while hanging stockings and pulled them out of bed too early on Christmas mornings. Just ask the people with whom I used to work. If that doesn’t convince you, look at my bank account and see how overboard I’ve gone every year.

And yet, beneath it has always dwelled a darkness, a deep sadness, that even now I find hard to write about. At first it was the result of my wanting more from life – the people, places, and things of my life – than it could possibly give. Then, it was the contrast between the joy of the season and the reality of my life that opened the door for the darkness.

If I let it, the darkness will enter and prevent me from seeing the many blessings of my life. No, Christmas will never live up to my wild, romantic imagination, nor will buying presents I cannot afford light up the dark. I will never be able to get people to do or say what I think they should.  

Understanding this is the only way I’ve come to learn the most important lesson of Christmas: it’s not about me. It’s not about what I think or feel, and, most importantly, it’s not about what I do. This is the season that’s all about God - what God has done and continues to do. In the Gospel of John, it’s written that God’s light comes into the darkness and the darkness can’t overcome it.

This year I need to cling to that truth like a prayer.

When I do, I see that God has always come into the world when it’s darkest. He did it two thousand years ago, and he does it today. Just ask the family sitting in the hospital waiting room, the spouse sitting alone at the kitchen table, and the fired man carrying the cardboard box from his cubical. No wonder the church chose this time of year, when the days are shortest and things darkest, to celebrate Christmas. It forever reminds us that there is no darkness God cannot enter, no darkness that can overcome the light of God’s presence.

I may not always know that, but I’ve always believed it.