On seventh day of Christmas I am grateful for the gift of new beginnings. Today is the big one of course: an entire new year in which to start over. I don’t believe in resolutions because they always seem to fail and I do like to have some intentions to be different, to change some things, to view the clean calendar slate with new eyes.
Our lives are filled with much smaller beginnings than the new year: births of babies, start of the school year, new business deals. Sometimes new beginnings come out of tragedy or sad events: the death of a parent, a spouse or a dearly loved friend. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.” Although we can not acknowledge it in the moment, as time passes, we realize changes and newness in our lives.
And then there are those amazing folks who simply stop in a moment and change. Think of the smoker who suddenly says, “that was my last one” and quits cold turkey. Or those moments when we stop and say, “I will be grateful rather than resentful or angry” and everything starts over anew.
On the whole, we think of new beginnings as a good time, a joyful time, a time to become better than we have been. May your new year be blessed with delightful and exciting change and may you find gratitude in and for it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment