Prepared for a new year?

January 6, 2013

I've noticed in recent years that the older I get the faster the days, months, and years seem to whisk past me at an ever-increasing rate. Have you noticed this phenomenon, too? I mean really, wasn't it just January 2012 five minutes ago? Ha!

Often the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day have a little different cadence than the rest of the year for me. We spend more time with family and friends, we attend holiday gatherings, and we bake and shop and enjoy all of the Christmas hullabaloo. We also reflect on the past year while looking ahead to what the new year might bring. 

This year, however, I found myself working intensely during the month of December on a couple of big projects with deadlines at the beginning of 2013. There were several days when I was working so intently that I simply lost track of the time. Six or eight hours would go by before I would even look at the clock or remember to take a drink of water. If my mom hadn't made me stop to each lunch, I probably wouldn't have eaten at all on those days. Without my mom and daughter, the house definitely wouldn't have been decorated for Christmas. And, if not for my mom's help, I wouldn't have had anything clean to wear either! (Thank goodness for moms—having my mom living here with us is an indescribable blessing! Our daughter is a great help, too!) 

In spite of the many hours spent at the computer working, I did get to enjoy time with my family, did a little Christmas cookie baking with my mom and 19-year-old daughter, and even got to attend a women's event at church, too.

So here on January 6—much later than I normally stop to take time to reflect and plan and dream about the year ahead—I am finally allowing myself a little time to do just that.

There's a song by Natasha Bedingfield that paints a great picture of what I often feel at the beginning of a new year. A few lines from Unwritten:

Staring at the blank page before you 
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten 

In looking at my calendar for this new year, it's apparent that the schedule is pretty much already packed to the gills and full-to-overflowing through at least June. Life marches on. Commitments, responsibilities, things already in motion, it all keeps on rolling forward. There's nothing wrong with that at all, of course. It's part of the rhythm of life. 

And yet, in spite of the many plates that are already spinning and the continuation of work that has been in motion for awhile, there is something about a new year that brings a sense of excitement. Even though I know that I don't have a literal "blank page" before me, I am excited about what God is going to do in and through me and in the lives of those around me. 

We don't have to wait for a new year to get a fresh start or a fresh boost of encouragement and renewed zeal.

In reality, every day is a blank page waiting to be written on ... even if there are already commitments and work that must be done. We don't have to wait for a new year to get a fresh start or a fresh boost of encouragement and renewed zeal. Every day there is opportunity to be a blessing to someone else and countless opportunities to see God work in amazing ways. Every day we can connect with others. Every day we can create and grow and dream and find joy. 

So while I start 2013 with lengthy to-do lists, projects aplenty, numerous commitments, and much work to do, I find that a new year just does something special to inspire and reinvigorate me for the tasks at hand and the possibilities not yet discovered.  How about you?

Comments

[Kathy Wright]

Hooray, a Nancy blog!!! This is wonderful news for all of us who know and love you, and serves also as future headlines for those you're yet to inspire!

Today, I spent most of my day revamping and reordering my world, both homeschooling and otherwise. I felt like I had been swimming in mud, and nothing about that was pretty. Earlier today, you posted a link to Impart Magazine. In Tricia Goyer's article she talked about this very matter, of tools becoming measuring sticks (my words) rather than serving as starting points that turn us in the right direction. As one who was one in dire need of a fresh turn in the right direction, I couldn't have asked for a more timely article. It helped me to simplify my goals and simplify my expectations altogether. I have a new view!

Blessings, Nancy, as the Lord joyfully speaks His design and ways through you. We're thrilled to be able to watch and see. : )

[Nancy Manos]

Thank you, Kathy! What a marvelous cheerleader you are! I am finally getting in the groove of writing and posting more regularly. Praying your year is going really well and your simplified goals and expectations have continued to carry you through the spring!