I enjoy this time of year when the media gives us the highlights from the previous 12 months (e.g. Pope Francis was Time magazine’s person of the year; Lady Gaga received Glamour magazine’s woman of the year and once again I didn’t make People magazine’s sexiest Man of the Year, darn it). So with that in mind I want you to think ahead to December 31, 2014.
Think of yourself on that date. What would the “future you” tell yourself today? Of course there might be big things (avoid that intersection which led to a fender bumper; or think twice about Vikings season tickets because it will be cold outside) but what are the little things that your “future self” would tell the “present you” to consider?
For the past 30 years, I have given myself a treat of reading my journal from the past 12 months during the days of the New Year. And although this past year has some new adventures for me, involving Australia, etc. . . . I am always amazed how the things that I considered “so big” or “so stressful” which I wrote about . . . never actually became so big. When I look back at the entire year, and see things from the “big picture” point of view . . . all those stresses or hurdles really were not that big at all. And it happens year after year.
I could imagine that what our future self would tell us (again) is to focus on the little details of life . . . be kind, get enough sleep, help those in need. But here are some other hints, from Mary Mother of God, about how to live these next 12 months:
Don’t strive to be famous. Mary accepted her role in God’s plan with any mention of what she could “get out of it.” (Luke 1:38) As far as we know she had a quiet, ordinary life for most of her life. But I assume that doesn’t mean she was “slacking” in her daily practices. I would imagine that she continued to pray daily, go to weekly services and perform all the rituals of her faith.
Stay within mystery. Mary’s virgin motherhood was probably as puzzling to her as it is to us. And that’s OK. I also believe that God sends each of us some mysterious and wonderful experiences. Most of the time we ignore them or we refer to them as coincidences or lucky. I suggest that you stay with the mysteries of your own life. Don’t dismiss them of even need to have someone else validate them, simply receive them as gift. And strive to reflect on them and learn from them.
It is never about us, and always about God. We, like Mary, are merely “handmaids,” or instruments for making the world better. But ultimately we should consider the year to one of “how can I trust God with all that will happen . . . the good and bad?” This year, as with all of life, is about trusting in God’s will.
When we celebrate New Year’s Day, we celebrate a symbolic “new start.” We somehow hope for God to do new things with us and for us. We wait for the coming of grace, for the unfolding of Mystery. We wait for the always-bigger truth.
Such a beginning allows us to fall into what spiritual writer, Fr. Thomas Merton, called “a hidden wholeness.” We cannot create it or even hold onto it. This spiritual wholeness holds onto us!
When we decide to become more like Mary and to trust God, we are also deciding to trust reality at its deepest foundation. But we can’t just wait around and place the entire “work load” on God. We must do our part also. So of all the things that you want to happen this year, the biggest think we can do is also one of the of simplest . . . to pray. It is amazing, when we hear our own prayers in our own ears and our own heart, we start choosing our deepest identity, our biggest future, and our best selves. Maybe then, like Mary showed, can fall into our own hidden wholeness.