New Year – Poetic Meanderings

2023

My heart is awed within me, when I think Of the great miracle that still goes on, In silence, round me — the perpetual work Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed Forever. —William Cullen Bryant, Forest Hymn One year passes into the darkest hour as the new year reaches for the light of tomorrow, andContinue reading “2023”

What Is

Then He asked them, “But who do you say I am?” — Matthew 16:15 In the newness of another year, in the dew of dawning possibility, in the January-cold reality that winter must finish before spring begins, in the resetting of dates to celebrate all yearly hallmarks that hold meaning, in the realization that timeContinue reading “What Is”

Night Watches

When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. — Psalm 63:6 In the days leading up to the shift, the shiny hour that chimes in a new year, I begin to reflect — What have I learned? What do I regret? What comes next? I read listsContinue reading “Night Watches”

Resolve

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky…., Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be. — Alfred Lord Tennyson I see you hovering near, a demarcation of change, but before you descend, before anotherContinue reading “Resolve”

Still Rising

You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set. —Psalm 104:19, NLT It hasn’t felt all that different yet. We’ve only just waded into the lapping waves of 2021, barely getting our feet wet. It felt so long getting here — I think we all let out a collectiveContinue reading “Still Rising”

Days Gone By

And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne. 2020 is ending in a shroud of white, a cold layer settling the year to rest. I await the pre-dawn hour, after the Watch Night, after the reconciling of thoughts from all that has past this persistent year, I look out, step outContinue reading “Days Gone By”

Night Watch

“New Year’s Day is a good time to fix one’s eyes on the only One who knows what the year is to hold.” —Elisabeth Elliot The watch before the dawning of a new year and the restarting of a rhythm that marks time with our memories, reminds us of our place in this world. Continue reading “Night Watch”

Resolution

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. — I Corinthians 13:12, NLT In music theory, you carry the dissonanceContinue reading “Resolution”

Putting Away

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. —1 Corinthians 13:11, NLT These last few days, putting away the tree, finding a place for every new trinket and gift, clearing out some things well past their usefulness, taking longContinue reading “Putting Away”