Happy New Year

Our Canadian Geese are busying themselves with practising flying formations for migration to warmer climates. Look skyward on most given days this time of year and you'll see the familiar "V" pattern that affords them the best opportunity to reach their destinations in due time with the least amount of effort.  I enjoy watching them but often need to remind myself to duck under cover when a squadron flys overhead.  My car doesn't fare as well however, and its often the victim of these air attacks. 

It feels like New Years.

 Pope Gregory XIII introduced the "Gregorian Calendar" in 1582 according to lunar cycles and a bunch of other stuff he and his cronies felt were important to observe.  Its the one we use today, and I think they got it all wrong.  To me, the beginning of September always felt like New Years.  Summer vacation was over, school began, work and church activities resumed, weather began to change, many outdoor recreational activities ceased, days became shorter etcetera.
Parents scramble to gather school supplies, clothing that fits, and are preparing to release their children into the wild world of "school".  Facebook is plastered with pictures of children clutching lunch boxes, or burdened with back packs that contain survival packs, and the familiar yellow and black transports prowl the streets picking up the young-uns who are sporting one of three looks; anguish, glee, or indifference.  Or perhaps all of the above.


There's a certain amount of stress about it all. Gone is the freedom of the sand and beach, the glistening fresh rivers and the rod, the sun and the sprinkler, the fire pit and the hot dog, and all the good stuff summer brings. Life ramps up a notch or two, expectations to move forward with renewed commitments, to provide for our families, to try harder, are all on the forefront of our mind, and then for some who are burdened to fight with darkened minds, even during the sunny days, the changing of the season can also be particularly frightening as days get shorter and the notion of external darkness looms.

So to me, this is New Years.  Opportunity, renewal, sadness, reflection, anxiety, all rolled into one, along with a bucket of warm water and soap for the car. 

The Geese have it right.  They have learned to trust instinct and their dependence on each other. They don't know of their Creator like we do, yet every season we look skyward and we see the perfectly formed "V's", the stronger leading the weaker, the wind currents carrying them along, the knowledge their destination is sure. 

Matthew 6: 25, 26 ESV
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

Welcome to another season of our Lord, Happy New Year (-: