Day 117-- on 2006, reflections, et cetera
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The twilight of 2006 will fall away in a few hours, flaking into the unseasonably warm night as 2007 stirs and takes its first breath. (Unseasonably warm in western PA; sorry Colorado.) Some--most, I'm guessing--treat the transition from 11:59 p.m. to 12 a.m. as a different sort of animal than the other 364 throughout the year, like the new year is a tangible thing, or that a glass partition seals each off from each other.
Just from poking around the Internet, 'blogs and message boards are filled with people eager to start again, brush aside the past and think about today (and celebrate in the process!). I'm not against this--I'm getting ready to visit some friends and have a small party, and I've been thinking about the past 12 months a good deal over the past few days. And 'starting fresh' is often a good thing, a way to put aside what needs to be put aside and strive for what needs to be strived.
But as 1 January wades into view, we make goals for the long term and are tripped up by the tugs and pulls of the day-to-day: New Year's resolutions are usually abandoned within a month; 2006 is elevated into a banner year and people 'can't wait for' 2008; and we fall back into the cycle whatever it is we shouldn't be doing. I say 'we' because I'm part of this as well.
I'm not articulating myself as well as I'd like, so I'll just recommend Os Guinness's Prophetic Untimeliness; Guinness lays it out quite well, how modern western culture worships the current and thinks to the future based on current trends. The past, Guinness suggests, is the best barometer for the climate of the future, though the focus should always, always be on the eternal.
So I'm going to try to reflect a good deal, think to the future a good deal based off of those reflections, and go from there. And instead of making a funky resolution ("make sure to eat Chicken in a Biskit weekly"), I'm going with this: I pray that I may be more faithful to God the father, that everything I do may be honoring to Christ's name and kingdom. This isn't a resolution for 2007; this is a desire for eternity.
A few postscripts:
-Read Evie's latest post; it's a great summation of a lot I've been thinking about, and her comments on writing have been running through my head all day.
-Favorite albums of the year! Offshore, by Early Day Miners, the Town and the City, by Los Lobos, Boys and Girls in America, by the Hold Steady, 'Rather Ripped', by Sonic Youth, and Mr. Beast, by Mogwai
posted, with grace and poise, by Jason @ 12/31/2006 07:25:00 PM,
