Qoheleth, the ecclesiastical preacher, insisted that there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes is sometimes a depressing piece of literature, and though it offers very many general truths, one should also be careful of its heavy ponderous tone. That was the mood of that age, not necessarily in line with the abundant life that Jesus offers us in John 10.10. Regeneration and renewal are the key words to living life abundantly. And it all depends on our thought life. If we are still stuck in thinking the old way, according to the way the world teaches us to think, we have to change the way we think. Here is a truth for the year 2016: Everything is made new again.
A leaf falling to earth from a wintry tree is falling to earth for the very first time. It’s not important that many other leaves have fallen from many other trees before for as long as the earth has existed. The fact is, for that little leaf, it is falling for the first time and that makes it new and altogether unique. A seed sprouting from the soil is doing that for the first time. A flower opening up its petals is blooming for the very first time. That is the truth that general statements miss out on when they insist that there is nothing new under the sun. It is a dismissive statement even though there is a lot of philosophical or theological truth in it. We have to see that even in the natural world, the regular rhythm of birth, growth, maturation and death is not a repeat of what it did last year.
Every morning that we are granted the blessing of seeing, every minute and second that we are blessed to step into, is a new moment, a new day, a new week, a new year. We should greet that newness with respect and honour it by filling it with our best selves, our best efforts at kindness, our best attempts at being good humans. That is the only way to honour the amazing gift of life: by not taking it for granted, and definitely by not treating it as a rerun of the day that has gone before.
It is like being handed a spanking clean slate. The phrase ‘a clean slate’ makes sense for people who went to school in the sixties. They got a new slate to write on, and after filling it up with squiggles, they could wipe it all off and start afresh. In fact, the dictionary definition of ‘clean slate’ says, ‘an opportunity to start over without prejudice,’ a ‘chance,’ ‘opportunity,’ ‘fresh start,’ ‘tabula rasa.’ The New Year is precisely that, another chance to start afresh without the burden of the prejudices of the past. It is a chance to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and give life a go again. And so long as we have breath in our nostrils, we have the possibility to repair, improve, upholster, totally renovate in some cases, and get to live life the way it was meant to be lived.
How do we do it? By making some efforts besides making resolutions. There are words we don’t have to use in the new year, the defeatist words, the accusatory words, and the depreciatory words that pull others down. There are thoughts we don’t have to think: the fear driven thoughts of failure, the self-centred thoughts that prevent our generosity, and all the self conscious thoughts that stop us from protesting violence and injustice even when it’s happening right in front of our eyes. And as all the self defeating thoughts and words are wiped clean from our slate, only the best words will come forth, pure and new-born words of compassion and empathy for one another. What a wondrous thought!
And so, here we are, on the cusp of a new-born year. Feel the energy it brings with it, the grand possibility for rewriting our lives all over again, this time more satisfactorily than the years before. Don’t let it slip by. Grab it, own it and finally live that abundant life that has been waiting for you all along!
