The home stretch: bidding farewell to 2019

How’s the year wrapping up in your world? Mine resembles a project still in the works: missing pieces to the puzzle; loose ends, tangled and frayed. Unfinished business: words left unspoken; goals unrealized. As well as one certainty: I don’t want to arrive at the end of my life or the end of next year—or the end of next month—without seeing progress. Although baby steps still mean we’re moving forward, we might fall on our hindquarters, take two steps back for each one we advance or veer off the original course. But we shouldn’t drop to our knees where we are and stop—unless it’s to pray. So as we bid farewell to 2019, I pray for: a clear vision for the New Year, favor to succeed, strength to overcome, confidence in our convictions and the peace that passes all understanding. And that any loose ends or unfinished business or missing pieces to the puzzle serve as stepping stones from one chapter to the next.

Cheers!

Image courtesy of Krishna arts at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

A sobering wake-up call

[Image credit: Daniel St.Pierre]

A week or so ago, a friend of the family went into cardiac arrest, resulting in a coma.  The prognosis is grim.  The most sobering part of the story, personally, is the friend is my age.  And for all intents and purposes, a healthy individual.  He had been running an errand and simply collapsed.  That could be me.  Or someone close to me.  All these plans I have — my tasks for tomorrow, goals for 2012, dreams for Someday — only have meaning if I’m alive and kicking.  For me, it was like a brush with mortality (the proverbial wake-up call), and I can only hope I’m making the most of this very moment.  And the next.  Does my family know how much I love them?  Have I made amends where necessary?  Maybe now is a good time to tie up loose ends while I’m still able.  Because life can change in an instant and as hard as I try, that’s one thing I cannot control.

Have you ever experienced a wake-up call resulting in a changed outlook on life?