2023 Is Upon Us
Bring in the New Year 2023!
2022 was a wonderful year on many fronts! The world continues to recover from the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Economically, the U.S. and other countries staved off economic recession in spite of massive inflation and a continued boorish post-pandemic recovery. Hopefully, we can prevent recessions in 2023. The year also brought inherent tragedies and unspeakably egregious realities for the world and for many of us personally. These included unimaginable wars, horrendous acts of violence, and unspeakable tragedies. However, goodness, love, hope, Grace reigned over the worst as many poets attest how they always do. And so we raise our glasses to toast a new year coming in. May it bring many new wonderful times and experiences with Grace, goodness, and love to guide us through bad times.
For many, this New Year brings a chance to start anew with fresh promises ahead. For others, the challenge is to keep old times in view and fresh remembrance. And yet, for others, the final days of one annum folding over to a new annum are just normal days passing. Perhaps these are all valid approaches. Days passing are technically just the Earth’s rotations, with revolutions around the Sun simply marking a year. Yet each new day and year offers unlimited riches to savor and new times to experience. And like the movements of river’s waters are forever imprinted on its bordering boulders, eaves, and grounds, the times that have come before endure in some form with each new coming age. All of this is further cause for celebration, joy, awe, and reverence.
For me, flipping through calendars — whether digital or paper — never ceases to amaze. Weeks stream to months, months to years, years to decades. If it is the future, I am excited and awed by how much time there is ahead — whole days, months, and years to savor infinite riches unfolding. In my personal life(ideally decades and decades to come), who will I meet in the coming years, where might I go and what might I do? How will life unfold for myself and those countless family and friends closest to me? How will life unfold for humanity and quintillions of other creatures on our majestic planet over the coming centuries, millennia, and even greater timescales? Such boundless hope and wonder exists for all of this that anyone can barely even begin to describe! And if it is the past, I am humbled and awed by all of the times and ages that have come before with tens of billions of people who have lived. How immeasurably amazing were each of these individuals’ lives? And how do these people still live on and shine upon all of us? And again, no one can hardly even begin to celebrate all of these infinitely amazing wonders!
I hope that your New Year brings a similar experience of awe and wonder, helping you to connect more deeply to what is immeasurable, sacred, and numinous at the heart of things. Hoping and praying for a wonderful, beautiful New Year to everyone! 2023 is upon us!
