“Every dawn Lord help me see the hands of time move like a thief, The days are long but the years are brief…” -Jody McBrayer

A new year has arrived, one offering big plans, hopes, goals, and resolutions to, “ get it right.”  At the end of every year, countless numbers of people complain of how terrible the year was, and how happy they are to see it go. They talk about how the new year will be the best year yet, as if a clock striking midnight, will magically change the choices they have made during the 365 days of the year they are leaving behind. If you think about it, usually those complaining the loudest about the horrors of the passing year, have reiterated the same sentiment for many years gone by. So there is no doubt many of those quickly rushing into 2021 like cats rushing off a hot tin roof, will be echoing the same propensity leading up to 2022. 

How can I write this? After all, 2020 was the year of the pandemic, millions of people losing their jobs, too many small businesses to count, closing that will never reopen. It was a year of civil unrest, doors of churches locking, and children being forced to stay at home and get their school lessons via computer monitors. There is not a person in this country or most nations across the globe that was not touched by the Corona Virus and we all will be forever changed because of it some  for the better, many for the worse. 

If you choose to focus on all of the negative things that occurred during this past year, then 2020 will forever be remembered as a grotesque stain on your life. Instead, try focusing on the good that occurred this year, no matter how small. Personal revelations you may not have ever discovered had you not had time to reflect. Desire to take a new direction in your life whether by choice or through unexpected circumstances. The realization of the importance of family and friends and the work it truly takes to not just sustain those relationships, but make them thrive. Recognizing you are mentally stronger than you thought you were. If none of these thoughts, ideas, or actions occurred to you in 2020, just be happy you are alive. 

Everyday you wake up and rise out of bed is a blessing because it is an opportunity to change direction, make different choices, and get it right. So stop waiting for the new year to experience your best year yet. Be present in the moment, appreciate the life and breath you have been given and work on making today your best day, by finding little things to be thankful for and cherish. Stop running into new years of life with no regard for the years you are leaving behind…years never to be repeated, years that are now part of your history. Years that slowly chip away at the borrowed breath you breathe. Life is a gift. What you do with it, how you choose to live it, is up to you. Just remember, we are a sum of our choices, so if you are running into this new year,making the same choices of past years, you’ll find yourself running into 2022 just as quickly.