I love this time of year. When people ask, “What is your favorite holiday?” I want to say New Years. Not New Years Day or New Years Eve, but the new year. It feels like a time of fresh starts. And it comes on the heels of some other pretty great holidays. Thanksgiving: when we reflect on all the many things for which we are grateful. Christmas: when we have the opportunity to think of our loved ones and show our love through giving. A time when we reflect on Jesus Christ and the life He led. And then New Year: a time to ponder on what we would like to do differently.
In one of the Chronicle of Narnia series, Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum are given an assignment by Aslan to rescue the Prince. They are returning to Cair Paravel with the assignment complete. Even then, Jill felt like their assignment had been botched and bungled. She discouragingly looked back on the details of the events and felt she hadn’t been able to do a single thing right. As she stood in front of Aslan to report, she opened her mouth to say, “I’m sorry.” But the Lion, as if he could read her mind, stopped her short. “Think of that no more,” he said. “You have done the work for which I sent you into Narnia.”
As I look over the past years, sometimes I feel like Jill in that I have botched and bungled my resolves. The things I hoped and wanted to accomplish didn’t quite happen the way I planned them. Yet still, I’ve learned things that have helped me to grow. One thing I’ve realized is that what I want to happen and how I think it’s going to happen differs from what usually happens. Yet in the end, I believe I’m learning the lessons that need to be learned.
As we look back over the past years, I hope we can overlook the things that were blotched and bungled and that we can feel pleased with the things that went well.
