Happy New Year!
The year 2012 is just a few days old, still glistening with the promise of new beginnings and fresh starts. New beginnings have been on my mind a lot lately as my husband and I prepare to welcome our new baby girl into the world next month. For weeks we’ve been busy preparing the nursery, stocking up on diapers and washing loads of new baby clothes in preparation for the new stage of life we’re about to enter.
In just a few short weeks we’ll become parents, and I’m imagining this transformation will be one of the most dramatic of our lives. I’m sure that it’s impossible for us to truly understand all the ways we’ll be changed, but we’re doing our best to prepare ourselves. The New Year’s holiday reminded me we’re not the only ones getting ready to make some changes.
Right now we’re surrounded by people taking advantage of the new calendar year to find ways to reinvent themselves. Maybe they’ll work out more, maybe they’ll go to the gym more often, or maybe they’ll try to have more patience with their friends and family members. New Year’s is a great time to resolve to change, but it’s not the only time we can do this.
As human beings, we have the ability and the freedom to look inside ourselves each and every day and decide who we want to be. What’s more, as Catholics we’re able to take advantage of the sacrament of reconciliation. We may not always live up to the ideals we set for ourselves, but we always have the ability to confess our sins and start again with a clean slate. What a beautiful gift.
What have you resolved to do this year, and who will you strive to be?
