REFLECTIONS: WHAT IS TO COME?

Welcome to December. The home stretch of a year which
has shown us that terrible things do happen to good
people just minding their own business. At the same
time, we've seen that good common people can become
better than anyone could have believed when the
mission they find themselves in becomes greater than
all their days combined.

As years end, it's often a time to look back on what
has happened. We look at where we are, what we have
and where we were 12 months ago. We may think about
what we wanted to accomplish during the year but just
never got around to. We see all the daily
interruptions that got in our way of doing something
we would rather have done.

We look around at others who seem happy and we think
about how much we "wish" we could be like them or do
what they are doing. But we just "know" we don't have
time to do it. Either that, or our life-long
circumstances have made it impossible for us to come
even close to doing something as "wonderful" as that.

Looking back is all too easy to see where we fell
short, things we should have done differently, things
we should not have wasted the time or money on. Boy,
if we only had a dime for every time each of us felt
that way in our lives, there would be so many more
millionaires in this world.

Unlike many sports where you get an intermission
between quarters or can call a timeout as in football,
life doesn't work that way. It's more of an auto race
or a marathon. It doesn't just stop at certain points
giving us a chance to rest, the clock is always
ticking and we are always moving forward (if we want
to, or not).

In a race, we look back to compare ourselves to
everyone else. In life, we look back to compare
ourselves with, well… ourselves. Sure, we may not as
wealthy as John Doe nor as happy in our career as Jane
Doe seems to be, but they don't matter when it comes
to our own ideas and hopes for ourselves.

That's why each year when the pages on the calendar
become fewer, and it's time to get a new one, we begin
to think ahead of what we can accomplish.

When we get that new calendar, WE have the chance of
filling in the empty spaces with our own plans, our
own things to do, our own moments to live for. You
know, it's funny. We look back at our lives and wonder
just where all the time went. Yet, we look forward to
something and feel it is just so far away, and wonder
if it will ever get here. Well Virginia, yes, it will
get here.

It's like the story of two friends talking. One saying
that he would like to change his whole career and
become a teacher. But says it will take 4 whole years
of classes and studying and tests and grades before he
finishes, and he'll be four years older by time he is
done. His friend asks him just one simple question.
"How much older will you be in 4 years if you don't go
back to school to gain that piece of paper that says
you can teach?

Time will go by no matter if we like it or not. So
this time of year, somewhat of a pre-amble to the New
Years resolutions, is our chance to adjust our game
plan. Our chance to peek back to see where we have
come and how far we are willing to go. It is our
chance to get out next year's calendar and fill in the
blanks so we can have a "better-than-the-year-before"
experience.