Advice # 1: Don’t make New Year’s resolutions. That simply sets you up for disappointment. It’s fine to decide to do your best every day, but at the end of the day when you are taking inventory of your best efforts, please remember that doing the best you can is all any of us can aspire to. Some days our best is better than others, but a new day, or a new year, is our best shot at another chance. And second chances are the building blocks of grace. Second chances for ourselves, but also for those whose lives touch ours.
Advice # 2: “Be faithful to the good in each other” Wendall Berry wrote that down somewhere. He also said we need to respect one another’s dignity. You might propose that some folks don’t display much dignity, but that doesn’t let us off the hook because we all were created with the inherent right to dignity. Whether we choose to act on it or develop it, is up to us.
Berry’s quote brings us to the matter of faith, and another quote, from Michael Green. “Faith is staking your life on the rumor of grace.” We’ve spoken of grace in this space before, but it’s good to review that concept. In laymen’s terms, grace is nothing more or less than cutting ourselves, and others, some slack. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t set personal boundaries in how people are allowed to treat us, but it does mean recognizing that there’s some God in the best and worst of us, and it’s not our job to demean anyone with our words and actions. Oh, and there’s that word “rumor”. If you’re going to spread one, make it something positive, rather than using scornful and mean spirited words. We all need challenges in order to grow, and deciding how to turn criticism into grace should be enough work to last the year out.
My oldest son’s family includes a wonderful rescue dog, named Gypsy. She has one ear that stands up and one that doesn’t. A family member suggest getting her fixed so the ears match, but my daughter in law said one of the wisest things I’ve ever heard. “No, she’s just flawed like all of us are, and fine the way she is.”
A new year is always scary for me. My tendency is to dwell on the “what ifs”, and not the happy ones either. So, the above advice is to myself but if anyone else cares to take up the challenge I’d be happy for the company, and for any triumphs you care to share. It’s been said that the only way to change the world is to change ourselves. I don’t know the source of that quote but it’s a light for the journey into 2023.
Advice # 3: Do your best; somebody might like it.
Happy New Year.