“There is within each of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining, for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment; for loving unconditionally.”
~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
And so another year begins. I have never been much for the practice of New Year’s resolutions. I probably have a enough of a track record to know the things I will follow through on and those that, while completely well-intentioned, will fall by the wayside pretty quickly. There are the classics, of course. Lose weight. Exercise more. Eat more vegetables. Drink more water. Consume less sugar. All these are doable and attainable but the real goal is greater health, isn’t it? And so to that I say …..May we all know what that threshold of health is and may we live with grace, and gentleness, towards ourselves and others. May we come to love ourselves more and honor this earth-home-body that carries us around.
So, while I was not thinking about resolutions today, I was performing some of the traditional acts that always come on the first day of January. One of those is to go from room to room and take down last year’s calendars and replace them with the new ones that have been waiting in the wings until it is their time. For some reason this act always makes me happy. I like looking back through last year’s calendars which often have events penciled in, birthdays noted. It is like a little mini-travelogue through the 365 days that have just happened. Vacations are remembered and their scenes dance in my head. Visits by relatives and friends over the last year float up from pages dotted with warmer scenes and holidays than the most recent ones celebrated. And of course, there is the promise held in the new calendar shining with its blank spaces, the as-yet empty days.
As I took down the calendar whose daily reflections I have shared in these pages from time to time, I looked back at some of the beautiful artwork and the lovely words that graced each page, each little box of a day. And then my eyes fell on the final words tucked at the bottom of the page holding the days of December, meant to not only reflect this season of Christmas and the soon to be celebrated Epiphany, but words to send the reader into the new year and all of its possibilities. “There is within each of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining, for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment; for loving unconditionally.”
I believe it is so, do you? This goodness that is planted deep within each of us often surprises us and equally eludes us. And yet it is there, planted at our birth by the Source of all goodness. This is the goodness that shines in the darkness of our days and lifts us above all that would try to tell us otherwise. It is a goodness we glimpse in the shadows that threaten and pray for in our bleakest hours. It is the goodness we see in the eyes of loved ones and that shows up in the smile of a stranger. It is the goodness that allows us to give without expectation and opens our hearts to the inviting spirit that accepts without judging. It is the goodness that gives us the courage to throw our arms open wide offering love without condition. It is a goodness that requires our deepest imagination to be brought to birth in the world.
As we enter this newest of years which offers itself to us like the enormous gift that it is, perhaps one resolution worth considering is to give ourselves to this imagining. Of goodness. Mine. Yours. Ours. And the goodness of all humanity, indeed, all Creation. Think of the difference it might make if we all resolve in 2014 to nurture goodness and to see and honor it in all we meet.
How might the year and the world be blessed by such a resolution? Only time will tell.