Monday, January 15, 2007

For the final days of 2006, after all the hullabaloo of Christmas had subsided, I spent most of my time wading through boxes of miscellaneous paraphernalia, packing, or whatever it is you call that lost wandering through your things right before you move to a new place. For those of you who didn’t know, I had to move at the end of the year due to health reasons. Without getting too much into that, I’ll say that period seems to be something of a foreshadowing regarding this coming year. A step ahead, two steps behind, I find myself entering this year frantically groping and fumbling toward transition. In a number of areas of my life, this will (hopefully) be a year of challenge and growth, as any other year would (hopefully) be. Still, this year, more than most in the past, promises to leave my life looking quite unpredictably different at its closing. Already, I live in a new place with people I met about a month ago, in a house I never really knew existed. I’ve already had surgery, bought and started reading a new book—I took a $2 chance on an African author of whom I had never heard. But I will not get too carried away with change.

So what will 2007 be about? When the clock struck midnight January 1st, 2007, I was actually at church. I had been so engrossed in packing and cleaning up at the place in which I had lived for 3 years that I hadn’t really had time to think about resolutions. As I’ve often been challenged to do by my brother’s consistent example, I desperately searched my mind and hopes for inspiration. Then I was struck by what I was doing, in that particular moment, as well as in the few days I had off from work. I was trying to hurry transition. Obviously, the clock didn’t move any faster or slower than predicted, but my thoughts and efforts lurched toward 2007’s beginnings like a car threatening to stall and take off at the same time. My hurried packing and cleaning up was nearly causing me physical injury. Time to push down on that clutch.

So, then, 2007 will have to be about rethinking the way I do things—perhaps the “word” being “master plan”.

We’re two weeks in, but, hey, I’ve already moved and had my maxillary sinuses scraped out—what’s your excuse? As in any year, my friends, I do not dare to promise perfection by the year’s end, nor do I even dare to promise to be “accomplished” in this area of my life by the time next year rears its head. “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward…”

Here’s to 2007 and its master plan, and all the intrigue, suspense, and possible drama it may bring. More on how things are developing here soon, my friends.

Sigh. I now feel like I can actually begin the year.