Here we are, with this issue, ending one year and beginning another.
Life is a constant cycle of endings and beginnings. We close one chapter and open another.
What did 2022 bring for you? Did it reveal some surprises? Some delights? Something to celebrate?
What were the blessings you experienced? The benefits? What made you smile?
Perhaps a difficult situation got easier? Or you learned something new? Maybe a fresh face arrived on the scene to brighten your day or lend a helping hand? Did you discover greater depth or meaning in your relationships or your activities?
If we take a few minutes to consider the last 12 months, there’s surely many things for which to be grateful.
Undoubtedly there has been the opposite, too. Times of challenge and struggle, of pain and sorrow. We’ve certainly had those crucible moments in 2022, haven’t we? Collectively and individually.
And yet, we can often still glean a kernel of goodness from these solemn events. Wisdom, patience, renewal and strength are forged from these most desperate occasions.
Each year we leave the legacy we have built behind and start anew. It’s the way of our world; bidding goodbye to the past and stepping across the threshold on January 1st into a blank canvas – searching for fresh ideas, new experiences, stronger faith and greater vision.
So, here we are, embarking on another year – with more promise and adventure waiting to envelope us.
What will we welcome into our experience in 2023?
How will we show up in response?
As we look out into the world, we may be dismayed by the many challenges we still face – but an equivalent force of opportunity awaits on the horizon. New discoveries. Answers to baffling questions. Success over previous failures.
Perhaps this is the year we put some of our grievances aside in order to find more in common with one another. Perhaps this is the year that more people decide to work together, in harmony and goodwill, instead of destroying the fabric of our society with pettiness and one-upmanship.
Perhaps this is the year we adopt a set of values that gives everyone a shot at being their best – for when we are all at our best, the worst can happen, and we can overcome it together. We’ve proven that, over and over. That is what makes humanity so unique! The ability to rise again and again from the ashes of ruin and despair – to be stronger, healthier, more temperate and harmonious.
May this season of transition greet you with a sense of completion of the past even as it invigorates you with uplifting thoughts and inspiring ideas for the future.
May you be nurtured by hope and infused by goodwill.
Season’s greetings to all.
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