Contemplate the New Year

"Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity." - Gilda Radner

As we contemplate a New Year, we often see it as an untarnished blank slate. So we make resolutions for change and want to be "better" than we were last year in the year to come. It generally doesn't take too many days following such a resolution for us to forget we've made it. I have known some people who have made resolutions and have stuck to them – but they are a small minority.

What if we were to get really radical and started the New Year with self-acceptance instead of resolutions? Can you imagine what a difference it might make if we were to begin 2014 by accepting ourselves with all of our bad habits, crutches, unfinished projects and failures? By holding ourselves and knowing we are held in the heart of divine Love?

I know this whole "love yourself" and "love your neighbor as yourself" concept often feels kind of vague and abstract. But what if before you get going in the morning or before you go to sleep at night, you take a few moments just to rest in the space of loving yourself and holding family, friends and acquaintances with a loving intention? It isn't that far off the bedtime prayers many of us used to say with our parents, "God bless Mom and Johnny and Judy..." but it also includes a few moments at the outset for ourselves. Ask the divine, the sacred, your "Higher Power" as you define that term, to hold you or surround you with loving light – in whatever way works for you, hold yourself in the heart of love for a bit. Then start on your list of those you love, care about, and those you know and see each day. Maybe add a few you bump into and don't know.

This doesn't sound like a huge spiritual undertaking. It might not even sound important. If you don't have a practice like this in your life today, it might be an interesting experiment. Do this for three to four weeks, mark it on your calendar each day – and see if you find it makes a difference to you.

In my own experience, it centers me and "softens" me. If I include those who get on my nerves as I go through my mental list, it may not change much, but it helps me to see the other person with new eyes. They are just struggling along like I am, after all.

In my own "new year," I am about to make some changes. I will be leaving the church I have served in Tehachapi as "Transitional Co-pastor" at the end of February. My husband and I will be taking some time to prepare for his retirement and get ready for change. More spiritual exploration and study are in the future for me. This will be a big shift, but an exciting one.

For my beloved church community, this will be an exciting time as they make decisions about calling their new "settled" or long term pastor in the month to come. My prayers will include them each day as they embark on this new chapter of their journey.

It has been a pleasure to hear from people over the past months who have read this column. I may still bump into some of you from time to time as I'm out and about in Tehachapi in the year to come. From here on out, it will be as another explorer on the journey – seeking to grow a bit each day. I look forward to the unfolding – for you and for me.

Blessings to each of you,

Rev. Karen