Another year.

Some of us are glad to close the door on this one and open up a new one,like the presents we have just received at Christmas.
Some may be clinging to this one,and dreading the dates and days that will mark out the new one.
No matter what our feelings are,the new year will come and this one too will pass.

I have spent the last few weeks uncluttering and clearing.
I have looked in every dark attic hole and every closed cupboard.
I have cleaned and stacked and packed.
I do this frequently.
I am a lover of full black bags and trips to the dump.

But I am not a naturally tidy person.
I do not think in straight, even lines.
I naturally would whistle and wander down winding roads.
I am drawn towards imperfect and slightly messy.
I would easily push stuff into hidden places and bang the door shut.

So I tidy and sort as an act of discipline and love.
I know that it blesses those who live with me.
I know that it frees my mind.
I know it develops my character.
I know I want to be able to move quickly if I need to.
I want to be able to own less and be more.

But I do still love the wavy edges of life,
so I like my gardens to be wild and unpruned.

But late this last year,I wanted to make the new path to my front door very straight and very ordered.
The plants to be even,the lines to be clean.
I wanted symmetry and balance.
Now it is done, I look at it and love it.
It lightens my day to see those tidy neat edges.

I love the fact that we do not stay still.
What we start with in 2012 in our hearts and hands will not be what we end with.
God does not leave us to ourselves.
God does not leave us where we are.
Therefore I have hope in every passing day that my character and my life will not stay unchanged.
That the things that cause me conflict or heartache or pain will not always be that way.
Sometimes you get a moment to glimpse at yourself and smile.