A New Year’s Resolution

We stand at the beginning of another new year. We hear a lot about resolutions around this time. I think I will resolve to be open to the good I can find. I don’t always know exactly what is good for me, but if I look hard enough, I can usually find some good in whatever comes. Why not? Who am I hurting by doing that?

It is easy to confuse joy or happiness with laughter, excitement or complacency. A simple statement greatly enhances a condition I find to be joyful: “This is nice.” I find I can make this statement at almost any time and in any place, and it reminds me to look at the good things around me. Joy is rooted in finding goodness and beauty in whatever is happening. As an emotion, I find it closely related to gratitude — a feeling that comes with looking at how good I’ve got it.

I am called to remember the presence of God. I also need to remember that you and I won’t always see this as being the same thing. It’s easy to begin thinking that because God loves me everything is going to be all sweetness and light. It won’t. In the end everything will be okay, but in the meantime all sorts of things can happen.

In Luke 2:22-35, Simeon looks at the little baby and can see God’s saving hand, He doesn’t demand to see exactly how Jesus is going to be the salvation for the world. He doesn’t question whether or not God is doing things right. He sees beyond appearances and just accepts. Dare to believe the possibility that God is with us and the details will be taken care of.

We are in exile, in a wilderness of the enemy’s domain. We are not yet what we will be. We are just meant to try to do what we can with what we have at the time. I have to accept that I will make a lot of mistakes. So will everyone. Can I forgive them? Can I forgive myself?

Each day I get twenty-four hours. How I handle that time is up to me, but I can only live in the time allotted. Worrying about tomorrow or the day after tomorrow can only serve to mess up (and waste) the time I have for today. We can dream about tomorrow, and we can remember yesterday. But God isn’t in those times. God is only with us now — He is a now God.

[excerpts from Fr. Everding’s musings on Advent]