Happy New Year

By Bobby Winters

There is nothing particular about January 1 that it should be the start of a New Year. The solstice is more than a week before; Earth being at perihelion is a few days after.  January 1 is just a day on the calendar, but the decision was made to start the new year then.

So here we are.  The last digit of the year changes; we have our black-eyed peas; we start uttering “oh crap” when we write the wrong date on something.  I will get that right by November if past experience is a guide.  

But on this day, we started the New Year.  It is traditional to look forward and to look back.  Looking back is easier.  On the whole, it has been a good year.  I’ve had challenges; I’ve made mistakes.  Oh.My.Goodness. Have I ever made mistakes. 

But I’ve learned.  I am a stronger (almost typed ‘stranger’ there--that might be true too) person than I was.  I am a lighter person than I was, by about 80 pounds.  I’ve got more energy than I had.

I’ve learned a lot this year. I've got a good start on the craft of woodworking. I’ve turned my garage into a workshop. I’ve learned about wiring; I’ve learned to hang drywall; I’ve learned that I really don’t like to hang drywall on ceilings.  I really, really don’t like to hang drywall on ceilings.  God bless those who do.

I’ve stuck with learning languages on Duolingo. I started on Korean because of the work-related trip I took to South Korea. I’ve learned the Korean alphabet which is brilliant; I’ve learned to say “ant” and “crow”; and I am fairly sure I can break wind in Korean, but that’s about it. Korean is hard for English speakers, and I have to think that English is hard for Koreans too, so those Koreans who can speak it are pretty remarkable. 

Most of my family has been healthy this year.  I think we’ve all had COVID. I had a hernia repaired.  There have been some knee replacements among the extended family.  The biggest issue was with my brother’s infected foot.  We thought it was going to have to be amputated, but it wasn’t.

While it has come with struggle, work, and the help of his friends and family, he now has his diabetes under control and is following the example of Hezekiah.

The year that is coming is an unmarked piece of wood. There are possibilities, but no cuts have been made.  I can look at it and say what things might be, but I don’t know what it will be.  As Isak Dinesen said,“God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road.”  

At this time last year, very little of what I said above existed even at the level of thought.  I was on a diet; I had lost some weight. I had started woodworking.  

That was it.

The seeds had been planted; the roots were growing; but nothing had broken ground, and certainly nothing had borne fruit.

I’ve been planting seeds all during this last year.  I’ve been planting seeds even when I didn’t know it, and even though I don’t know what kind of seeds they are.

You have too.

As we go forward, we will continue to plant seeds.  Whatever seeds they are, they will yield a better crop if we water them with love and fertilize them with kindness.

Do I have any resolutions for the New Year?

I’ve made some in the past, and those hardly ever made it beyond the first frost of January.  But I saw a meme on the internet that caught my attention.  It was a Susan Sontag quote, and while I can’t remember it exactly, I do remember the gist of it.  She didn’t have a New Year’s resolution.  She had a New Year’s prayer.  It was a prayer for courage.

That doesn’t seem like a bad idea.  I’m not sure you could go wrong with that.  Pray, not necessarily for courage, though courage isn’t a bad thing.  Pray.  Pray for courage; pray for wisdom; pray for patience; pray for whatever personal virtue you are short of.

Pray.

And have a happy, happy New Year.

Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to “like'' the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook. Search for him by name on YouTube. )