I usually love writing the Christmas letter I send out with the holiday cards every year.  It gives me a chance to look back on where I moved or didn’t move in the last year and it also affords me the opportunity to look forward to beginning again.  Honestly, this past year has been difficult, tumultuous and full of challenges on many levels. Sadly, Andy’s dad passed away, as well as our beautiful dog Sarah. And Andy dislocated his shoulder while we were white water rafting during our trip to Costa Rica, which eventually led to his neck surgery (which fortunately went very well) in the spring that had to be postponed a few weeks when he came down with some kind of debilitating virus.  So, beginning from a point of already being off balance going into Advent, I ordered my Christmas cards late and never did manage to write the Christmas letter.  So I guess the cards just didn’t happen this year and maybe this is my review.  With that in mind, I will just echo what I write every year, which is that I continue to be grateful for all of the many blessings in my life.  And I really mean it.  As Andy always says, there wouldn’t be any good times if there weren’t any bad times.  And so now I am truly ready to re-boot and move on into 2018.

January is always a good time to reflect on the new beginnings we have in our lives. The start of a new year can offer us a fresh piece of paper, a place with enough space to encourage us to sit with ourselves and find those inner landscapes where we most need to focus our attention.  What does the process of beginning again require from us?

I am reminded that it takes a lot of attention and energy to begin again.  But one thing that can make it easier is something I gleaned from Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way, something that she calls “showing up at the page.”  Having the determination and commitment to show up without listening too much to our inner critic is more than half of the effort.  As always for me, as for many others, there is the typical new year’s promise or resolution to improve my diet and exercise.  When I show up at the gym – that’s the hard part – I can get started going down the path toward fitness.  It seems strange, but when I do finally get to the gym and start working out, I usually end up exercising longer or harder than I actually had planned.  In a similar way, in our spiritual journey, if we don’t even show up to take a single baby step, we won’t be able to develop in love the way we might otherwise.  It seems to me that whenever we encounter new beginnings in our lives, courageously showing up to prayer (in whatever form we use) is a really important part of the process.  And when we make the effort to show up, God will always meet us there.

It also takes a lot of patience to start over (and perhaps over and over and over) – so we must remember to try to be gentle with ourselves.  We fall down – we get back up and begin again.  And if we keep on showing up, eventually we will find what works best for us and open a door to receive spiritual gifts such as comfort, insight, and forgiveness.  January is the perfect time to gently show up at the page again.  “See I make all things new and beautiful.” [Revelations 25:1]  May God grant us all the grace and blessings we can hold in New Year 2018, as we continue to become aware of our life in Christ and we begin again to walk the journey.

Photo Credit: Abdillah Wicaksono, CC BY 2.0 flickr.com, June 9, 2012.