Along the Way

The children’s Christmas pageant at my church this year had one of those unexpected moments we don’t forget. Among the sheep gathered at the Manger was a tiger. The image of a tiger, the most fearsome of predators, at that iconic scene of peace and goodwill, definitely brought smiles. What were they to do when the little boy really wanted to wear his tiger costume? Sometimes we can really enjoy something that breaks the routine, something that alters the trajectory of what’s expected.

We are arriving at the end of yet another year. Some are glad to see 2023 pass away, some sad. Some look forward to a new year, some shrug and expect nothing different. The date of a new year is an arbitrary date chosen by someone in the distant past. Different groups have different dates to mark a new year.

Its relevance derives from the underlying constant in human life of both longing for and being repelled by transitions. We sometimes want something, anything, to change, to get us out of some unpleasant rut we’re in and, at the same time, we worry what change will bring. The pageant of life is nice but wouldn’t it be nice if, just once, a tiger showed up? So long as the tiger doesn’t actually eat us it would, at least bring a welcome change.

When we mark a new year we think perhaps it will be a magical time when things will, somehow, become new and better. Perhaps we want the change of dates to free us from our current reality. Perhaps we fret that we’re not doing life right but next year we’ll do better.

What we can’t quite accept is the reality that there is no absolutely right way to do life. Especially in Western thought we believe we’re at least supposed to be on a continual path upwards, constantly progressing toward some mythical perfection. We write resolutions for the new year because we think we ought to keep getting better. We have to achieve more, do better, next year. No wonder folks often spend their lives being unhappy. The simple truth is, failure is inevitable, disasters will happen no matter how hard we try, no matter how many resolutions we vow to uphold.

Over the years we understand that what actually matters are the things we can’t achieve by adding more success. What is actually important is eliminating from our lives what doesn’t really matter. Thomas Merton said we sometimes spend our entire lives climbing the ladder of success, only to find, when we get to the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.

Age brings perspective, what once seemed critical becomes expendable, what we thought we absolutely had to achieve becomes laughably irrelevant. It is the intangibles of life that shine more.

My wish for the new year for all of us is not something tangible, nothing we can buy. My wish for us all is for love, kindness, peace and contentment.