I spent part of yesterday tending to arrangements for a big event that is scheduled for next September. Another part of the day was allocated to writing a presentation and hammering out details for a Retreat on theological education upcoming at the end of January. In addition to that, I’ve been doing preliminary work on two messages I’ve been invited to preach in February. Earlier this week I prepared syllabi for the courses I’ll begin teaching next week at a nearby university, making certain I nailed down the topic and thematic outline of every lecture between next Tuesday and the end of April. Last night Page and I dined till after 11:00 with dear friends as the four of us ushered out an old year, whereupon she and I returned to our place in Blowing Rock to watch the ball drop at Time Square. As we watched, we imagined together how we hope that these fresh twelve months for us all may be radical improvements on the twelve that have just passed.
Before turning out the light last night, having already set up shop in 2026, my wife told me some of her resolutions for the new year. She then asked, “What are yours?” I very honestly answered, “I don’t know. Really, I have no idea.” Because she knows me well, she replied, “You’ll know tomorrow.” She was correct. I woke early this morning, reflecting on yesterday and how I had lived the greater part of it. That reflection whispered to me about my approche de la vie … and about my personal need to craft a revised approach to life as I move forward. Aside from our lovely dinner with friends last evening, I spent yesterday (as I spend most days, to be honest) trying to live in the future. In so doing, I missed out on the present. I worked my way through a day off, a rare opportunity to relax and “just be.” I worried about things yet to come at the expense of all that was right before me. As many of us so often do, to a great extent yesterday I missed the moment.
And so I awoke suspecting that my resolution needs to be one I have made but failed to keep so frequently in years past: Carpe Diem – seize the day! This day. Whatever twenty-four hour span you have been given here and now. Don’t miss what is by focusing frenetically on what may eventually be. Our late nephew, Lee, who passed far, far too early, lived by the phrase “Be Here Now.” At his memorial service, all of us wore lapel pins with those words printed on them. It’s a philosophy of life most people acknowledge as wise but too often dismiss as impractical. We’re mistaken to do that. Nothing is more important than now because, in truth, Now is all any of us will ever have. Someday never comes. As Boethius wrote centuries ago, we all live in “the eternal now.” So, maybe that’s a resolution we would be well advised to make: Don’t miss today. Don’t fail to see the beauty and joy and potential for life-in-its-fullness in every new twenty-four hour span. The past is gone. The future will come when it comes. What we have, maybe all that we have, is today. By drinking deeply at that well, by experiencing it as fully as possible, by taking care of here-and-now, maybe our tomorrows will take care of themselves. “Take no thought for tomorrow,” Jesus once advised. “Sufficient for each day are the concerns thereof.” That ancient, sacred wisdom is worthy of New Year’s resolutions. Seize the day. Don’t miss the moments which, having passed, will not return again. Be here now.
At noon today we will dine with two couples who are dear to us. We haven’t seen them since September. We’ve missed just being in their presence. No doubt we will all share what has happened between then and now. We will also certainly talk about things upcoming. But, what I want most of all is just to be with them today. This day. This lunch. To see their faces. To hear their laughter. To wrap myself in the warmth of their friendship. To enjoy this time. Then this afternoon there will be bowl games on TV. I want to watch (and maybe even nap a little during one or another of them). In order to do that, I’ll need to close my laptop and avoid the temptation of working my way through New Year’s Day trying to prepare for other days in February, April, or September. They are important days, to be sure. And, I will not ignore them. I am aware of and acknowledge the wisdom of the old adage, “To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail.” I get it. But for now, I resolve to seize the beauty of this particular day. Is that my resolution for the whole new year? At the moment, I choose not to worry about the whole new year. It’s enough just to experience and enjoy this day. I won’t get it back again, so I don’t want to miss it while it’s here.
I suppose I should conclude by writing “Happy New Year!” Instead, I think I’ll just offer you this wish in complete sincerity: Have a great new day!