It’s hard to believe that 2009 has come and is almost gone. In less than an hour, the new decade will arrive.
Time is an odd thing.
Ten years ago I had just entered my teenage years.
And about six hours ago, the love of my life was already existing in the new decade as his clocks struck midnight. We were literally existing in a different time.
Seven months ago I started this new blog with the hopes of collecting my racing stories and sharing the journey of triathlon. This came after five months of chasing my 2009 resolutions. And yet somehow, time has slipped away from me again and I have barely conquered those resolutions, let alone even recap my races!
Which is why I’m not really doing that this year. Making a resolutions list that is. [Oh, I’ve already got the race season planned!) I just went back through the old blog to read through some things and realized that one year ago today I was going through the blog and doing the same thing. I suppose New Year’s Eve often finds me reflecting on the year, but I know I’m not the only one. And like every other human being out there, I have many resolutions in my head ready to try and conquer in 2010.
But this year, I want to try something different. Because really, when I think about it as I sit here with Lib and watch movies and listen to music, tonight is really just like any other night. I’ll probably stay up late and then turn in with no special thoughts or change in heart because tomorrow is simply Friday. It just happens to be January 1st, 2010. But there’s a quote I like by G.K. Chesterton that says, “The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year, but that we should have a new soul.” Therefore,I don’t really want to make a resolution list, just yet anyway. I want to spend some time reflecting and prayerfully considering this next year in terms of my soul. A new year is a new year, and it will probably have a lot of ups and downs just like this year has. I cannot change that. But what I can change is me. And I think with that, my one resolution I really want to chase is to simply love. Because love is an act of the soul. Christ calls us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " (Luke 10:27).
Literally, tonight isn’t much different than any other night, but figuratively it is a time where we all fall into contemplation as the night, with hoots and giggles, transforms into a brand new dawn. And as the dawn breaks and I begin to pace my feet into a run, I’m going to love. God, Casey, my family, my friends, life, racing, and every step that comes my way.
“New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights”
- Hamilton Wright Mabie
