January 2, 2013 WBAS Topics Prayer, WBAS Cat Prayers & Reflections, REL Seasons - Feast Days/Holidays, REL Asset - Prayer Card
By: Kathy Hendricks
I am big on family traditions. Not only do they draw us together, but they are often grounded in stories and rituals that can stretch back for years on end. My family’s New Year’s tradition had a much shorter life span. It began by happenstance. While out for pizza on New Year’s Eve Ron and I had to come up with some way to distract our two squirming children from the lengthy time it took to receive our meal. One of us began a discussion about what might happen in the year ahead. We began jotting a list of hopes for a new year on a paper placemat. The discussion became so engrossing, we soon forgot about our dinner order. I tucked the placemat in my journal and pulled it out the following New Year’s Eve. We laughed at some of our entries and marveled at those that did, indeed, come about. Before long we set about making a new New Year’s list. And so, a tradition was born.By the time our children reached middle school, coming up with a wish list for the upcoming year had grown thin. Nevertheless, I believe it was a worthy practice. Our hopes often included something fun we would do together – a trip to Disneyland or the acquisition of a pet (usually injected by our daughter). Sometimes it was for a way out of something – a deadening job or a move from a cramped environment to a more spacious one. There were dreams of achievement as our children looked towards advancing to a new grade level, as well as wishes for the well-being of our loved ones. In the end, every New Year’s list was about the same thing – the desire to grow and stay close as a family.
I am an optimistic person by nature and yet, over the years, I have become more hopeful. Optimism expects things to turn out for the best without much grounding in anything other than wishful thinking. Hope builds on experience and a deep-down knowledge that life unfolds, that blessings emerge, and that all will be well in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps my family let go of the written list because it now goes without saying.
Bright Ideas
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Engage your family or class in a discussion about their expectations for the New Year. Challenge them to expand their hopes beyond wishful thinking in order to ground each one in the grace and love of God.
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Download my prayer of Hope for a New Year and use it in your home or parish.
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