Anybody else fumbling with the calendar, trying to figure out which page to be on? December 31. Wow.
I could write about the past year, which has been exciting for me as a new novelist. A lot has happened with book releases in May, October and early copies of a January 1 release.
I could write about the year to come and what I hope it will bring. I could make resolutions. I could set goals. I could choose a word. I could vow to clean out my kitchen cupboards. (Yeah, no.) Three more books will release in 2013, so a lot of great stuff is bound to happen.
But instead of all that, instead of thinking about the year past or the year to come, I want to be fully present in the moment right now. I want to look around and notice the details that make up my life. I want a close-up view of this day, this hour. I’m old enough that the years whiz by. Really. Somebody please explain to me the physics of that compression of time. (Like I could understand that. Sure.)
But each moment is what I have in front of me. None of us knows when an event will alter the rhythms of our lives, like a broken ankle has for me in the last few weeks, or when tragedy will slice through and lay bare what is most precious. We can’t control or prevent any of that, but we have each moment. Even suffering plumbs the depth of God’s love, and life-changing decisions blow the wind of God’s grace straight through us.
This moment has meaning.
Whatever moment you are in, I hope you are not missing right now because of something that happened last year or that might happen next year.
Soak up this beautiful thing called life. Be. Really be.
