An old year slides out the door.

I've always been intrigued by New Year's Eve.
The excitement, the parties, the craziness -- all in anticipation of ....
                                                                                               what exactly? 
That the next 365 days will hold something that the last 364 did not?
That this next 12 months will deliver in ways that the last 12 just weren't able to?

Or maybe it's not time frames we're concerned about,
it's a more personal way of thinking.
That WE might be different somehow -- more gracious, patient, generous, kind?
That somehow we'll go to bed tonight and wake up tomorrow and
everything that is true about us (especially those things we don't particularly care for) today, might somehow be altered?
That if we make a list of things we'd like to change and work at them hard enough, next year at this time we'll be more like the person we wish we were NOW?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to set goals.
To be intentionally working toward something can be really life-giving.
I'm just saying I don't think we have to wait until Dick Clark starts the countdown, to start to make some of those changes.  Or even to start thinking about them.

Favorite place to sit & think: Front Porch

I have had lots of days in the past almost 3 months, to sit and think and journal -- well honestly, sometimes I never really got anything written down in the journal -- so lots of just sitting and thinking.  A gift really.  One that many of us, because of the pace we're living, never really have.
I'm grateful for it.
I'm in awe of it really.
But mostly, I've been changed by it.
To sit and think about your past.  To really spend time being curious about your present.  And then, to have extended time to dream about tomorrow.
What a rare and beautiful gift.
And I didn't even have to wait for December 31st!

I wouldn't wish The Whipple on anybody.  Nope, not even my worst enemy (even though I hope I don't have one of those).  But I would wish everyone I know time.  Time to think and dream and ponder and hope.  Because in the long run, that's what New Year's Eve crazy-making is really all about: HOPE.  And trust me, I only know one place to find real Hope and for me, it's rarely revealed itself during a party when I was counting down from 10 to 1 and making a lot of noise!

My prayer for me, my family, and you is that as 2010 slides out the back door and 2011 steps in the front - we will have a greater sense of the possibilities in front of us right this moment -- and grab them. 
Even if the opportunity is the chance to just sit and think...

Happy New Year!
Suze