Khrietuonyü Noudi
Every New Year brings with it a mixed bag of a variety of feelings and emotions. These feelings and emotions include nostalgia, gratitude, excitement, expectation, regret, retreat, hope as well as uncertainty. And indeed, being able to witness a New Year is something worth celebrating and cherishing because every New Year brings so much promises, joy and thrill into our lives. And yes, when we think about how much we can accomplish or achieve in a single year or how much can be done in a year or how much changes can happen within a year, we certainly cannot take for granted a single year. And even if nothing is done in a year or no change happens, you will be a year older and a year closer to your grave by the time the next year rolls around. And that is something to really ponder about.
Astronomically, a year is the time the earth takes to complete a revolution around the sun. And it is interesting to note that despite the presence of many other yardsticks, the most fundamental phenomena of life are measured in terms of the unit of year. For example, we say that a person lived for 50 years instead of 600 months or 18,250 days. Similarly, we say a certain event took place 400 years before Christ or 600 years after Christ rather than specifying the number of months or days. And likewise, various anniversaries and commemorations are also held in terms of years and not in any other standard. The life expectancy of humans and other beings are also expressed in terms of years and not in months or days.
So there certainly must be something evocative about years and we can assume that the Creator of the Universe Himself designed this to be so. So I guess it is only natural that we are bombarded by so many feelings and emotions at the beginning of every New Year. And New Years are really worth celebrating and cherishing because it is certainly a milestone in everybody’s life.
The scripture says that God’s mercies are new every morning. So, if God’s mercies are new every morning, God’s mercies must be abundantly great every new year because a year would be comprised of 365 mornings. Indeed, if one can utilize all the 365 days of a year productively in its right desired way, there is no wonder how much can be done or accomplished in a single year. Similarly, if the 365 days of a year are to be wasted or used in worthless pursuits, the eventual consequence would be disastrous for the individual as well as his society.
It is said that one should be able to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Many a times we waste our times and days in waiting to see something spectacular or awe-inspiring. But if we do that, we may subconsciously waste precious days of our lives which God has bestowed upon us. So instead of waiting for spectacular extraordinary things to happen, we should concentrate on and enjoy doing simple daily things and let God do the extraordinary in His own way and in His own time. Maybe that is why it s said, “Today I will do what others are not willing to do so that tomorrow they will not be able to do what I do”.
There is the story of a man who had a big boulder right in front of his house. And every morning, this man would come out with his hammer and other tools and strike and chisel the rock in order to break it so that he could remove the rock which was blocking the entrance of his house. Thus, every morning, for about 20 to 25 minutes he would be busy striking the rock with his tools. Many months passed but still there were no cracks, lines or any sign of damage to the rock. His neighbors laughed at him saying he was doing an impossible job of trying to break a gigantic rock with his ordinary tools.
But this man did not give up and continued with his daily routine of striking the boulder. Then one day, all of a sudden, when he struck the rock with his tools which he used every day, the rock dramatically broke into pieces. Now, how did that happen? Was it because he struck the rock harder that day or did he use a new technique of striking the rock or did he use some more powerful and efficient tools? It was none of these. The rock suddenly broke into pieces that day because, in the preceding months, whenever the man struck the rock with his ordinary tools, the integrity of the rock inside was being loosened. So, though no signs of damage were visible outside, every time the man struck, the rock was getting weaker and weaker inside and finally broke into pieces that day because it could no longer withstand the constant strikes of the ordinary tools of the man.
So the moral of this story is that even the seemingly ordinary daily chores we do can deliver us fantastic results if we don’t lose heart and give up. We may have the tendency to think that our labor is yielding no result. But we need to realize that in the unseen realm, changes are taking place and one day we will see the dramatic result. There may be no instant melodramatic outcome but every time we put our effort into something, the integrity of our rock, so to speak, is getting loosened inside. So, if we don’t give up, we will surely see the result one day like that rock breaking into pieces because of the perseverance of the man.
I believe one primary reason why God designed and divided our time on earth into days and nights, weeks, months and years is because He knew that man would need constant restarts throughout his life. Every man is born naked, raw, volatile and imperfect and everyman learns through trial and error experiences. And as such, if there are no stoppages and restarts along the way, there would be no way for man to develop and come up to a higher level. And New Years are always a great opportunity for every man to reflect on his life on hindsight and restart the journey of life more well equipped to realize and live the true meaning and purpose e of life.
Yes, while it is always thrilling to step into a new year, the thrill would be incomplete if it doesn’t rejuvenate in us feelings of nostalgia and remind us of our failings and shortcomings in the past and instill in us the determination and commitment to do better in the coming days. There is no need to downgrade oneself comparing oneself or one’s accomplishments and failures with those of others because at the end of the day, you should be your own and only competitor. So every New Year is a great opportunity for everyone to become a better version of himself.
In an interview given in 1987, when asked about his future plans, singer Bon Jovi said, “man, God knows where we would all be in the year 2000”. But now, that is 35 years ago and the year 2000 came and went like any other year for many people. So unless we are cautious, thoughtful, reflective, watchful and committed, any year can pass away from us in the blink of an eye without us even realizing about the magnitude of such a loss.
The scripture says, “Our life is like a mist, we are here today and tomorrow we are gone”. Our life is also like a candle in the wind and we do not know when it will be blown out. When we realize how short and fragile our life really is, we would all come to value, cherish and treasure each of our years and every New Year provides this opportunity. When we really understand the value of our time here on earth, our hearts should be filled with gratitude, excitement, thrill and expectation for the goodness of the Lord.
It is also said that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago and the second best time is now. Whatever opportunity we missed in the past will not come back to us because we cannot go back on time. We can and we must plan for the future but nobody knows whether we would even see tomorrow. So the only time we have is now and if we do the right thing now, that will make up for the time lost in the past and also for the time that is ahead of us and every New Year provides such a golden opportunity to each and everyone alive.
