Colleton River Plantation; Bluffton SC
“I hope that in this year to come, you make
mistakes. Because if you are
making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning,
living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing
things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.” - Neal
Gaiman
New Year’s Eve. We are
all set to celebrate another rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Way back when, someone decided that the
shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere determined the beginning of
a “year” – and this was 2,058 years ago - long before they even realized that
the Earth circles the Sun, let alone that the Earth is round. The day was actually chosen in order to deify
Julius Caesar 4 years after he was killed. But the calculations of a year were
not precise, so the shortest day has drifted a bit earlier – December 21st
this year. Obviously unaware that the
choosing of January 1st as the hypothetical first day of the year
was originally intended to make Caesar a God, the Roman Catholic Church kept
the date through several calendar revisions, although they re-set the year
count to approximate the year they thought Jesus was born.
And
so on this day that history has made so much of men being Gods or Gods being
men, it begs the question, who or what has been our God this last trip around
the Sun? And who or what God’s will we
serve this coming trip around the Sun – the hypothetical unit of time we will
call 2014? What is a God anyway, and who
cares if I have one or not?
For me, God is whatever is driving my
thoughts and actions at this particular moment.
Is my day today going to be mostly taken up with the details of
obtaining and consuming alcohol? If so,
today alcohol is my God. Are my thoughts
and actions today going to be shaped by anger at someone who I think slighted
me yesterday? Then today, I am choosing
to make my “enemy” my God. Today, am I
going to be stressing about how I am going to acquire the money to pay this
month’s mortgage? Then today, the house
I live in is my God. Am I going to worry
about an errant child, an unreliable love interest, a mechanical problem with
my vehicle, issues with my work, a favorite sports team, a favorite television
drama, the national political climate, the international political climate –
whatever it is that I allow to drive my thoughts and my actions today is what I
am serving today as my God. Through this
lens, I can look back at my life and see it has been a pretty shallow existence
indeed.
But again today, I have a choice. Am I going to try to attune myself to that
small still voice within me that seeks to guide me on this journey? Am I going to choose to see that at their
core my fellows come from the same source that I did and treat them accordingly? Am I going to realize today that this cold
blue rock that we are floating around the Sun on is the only home we have, and
treat it accordingly?
Perhaps today I can stop and realize that
planning out my actions for this next trip around the sun isn't going to work
out any better than all the plans I have made before. Maybe I can realize that the only time I can
ever do, say or be anything is right now – this moment. Maybe I can realize that what I am doing
right now is most likely what I am going to spend this next year doing. Maybe today I can just be right where I am,
fully available for the God of my understanding to work with and through me to accomplish
whatever it is I am supposed to be doing right now. And maybe I can realize that my life and my
legacy are being defined right here and right now – by what God I am serving
this moment.
Today, may I
be present.
Happy New
Year all!!
David
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