Growing up in a Filipino household, new year meant having lots of really nice food (and having dinner twice! One at 7pm and another at 12 midnight to welcome the new year), staying up until three in the morning and being allowed to wake up at lunch time. But as each new year passed into the old, I found myself eating less, sleeping earlier and waking up waaaay before lunch time.
Is this the effect of what they call growing older?
Or I simply am older?
The magic of new year usually fades by the second or third week of January, when we are back in the rituals of living life. For some, there is no ritual. It is simply survival. The makes me wonder what is there to look forward to when the new year does arrive. We still suffer the same issues at work. We still take the same commute. Get stuck in the same traffic-laden areas of the metro.
Sure, people find excitement in the prospect of a brighter tomorrow. And I agree. THAT is truly something to look forward to. But for many of us, that bright light usually dims and takes the back seat of our living until we hit the last quarter of our "new year". By then, the things that excited us last year aren't exactly the same anymore.
The cost of fuel & maintenance is starting make that car purchase a bit bothersome.
The condo's upkeep can become a test of faith.
That guy who has been making you blush now seems to rub you the wrong way more often than not.
That beautiful, cute child keeps you from sleeping longer than any school or office project has ever given you sleepless nights.
What happens when the magic of the new year fades and we are left staring at the long term realities of life?
Hope.
This is what I believe the new year brings every year: Hope. The promise that things will get better. The staunch belief that though things may be difficult now, we will overcome it. The new year is a reminder that all things are made beautiful in the proper time. It signifies another chapter in the journey we call life. Like all journeys, the destination is most appreciated by appreciating the road traveled towards it.
And like all journeys, the travel is made more meaningful when it is shared with fellow travelers. These are the people we have, had or will have in our life. They all contribute to our current chapter in one way or the other. Some have been journeying with us since before we can remember; others are fairly new. Regardless, the lives that surround us are gifts that we can choose to learn and grow from.
I don't know what situation you are in right now. I don't know if you've just got the dream promotion you've always wanted or just recently lost your only source of income. I don't know if the man of your dreams just proposed marriage to you or you find out that he isn't really your prince charming, and you can't seem to understand why your relationship isn't as smooth as it was before. Perhaps you're at a crossroads in life. Maybe you're trying to get back what was lost in your life. I don't know what story or chapter you are in right now.
But I do know someone who does.
God has always been journeying with you. He was there before you took the first step on this journey called life. And He will always walk with you. Be it alongside you, or in front of you or behind you, God is the one traveler in your life that is a constant. There are a lot people, dreams and pressures that either cause us to lose sight of Him or desensitize ourselves to His presence in our life. And that's when all the Hope gets either misplaced or snuffed out. That's when the light that's been leading us to where we really are supposed to be is either heavily veiled or drowned in the sea of other lights wanting to take its place.
I pray that may we all be granted the grace to see and journey with the light that is the Lord. May His Holy Spirit lead us by the hand that we may not stray to the left nor the right from the path set for us; and may the Hope that is Christ Jesus continue to be our strength of heart, our passion and our drive to overcome the struggles of this life and to celebrate the beauty, joy and love that is living.
-M-