By G. E.
Shuman
So, dear
readers, here we are again. Christmas came and went as suddenly as it always
does, and we’re on the brink of another brand-new year.
For many of
us, every new year seems to be a reason to begin again in some areas of life.
We pack up the Christmas decorations, throw out the remaining candies and cakes
of the season, and get our homes ‘back to normal.’ People make the inevitable
resolutions, to live better or more simply; to break some bad habit; to lose
weight. (I for one, have done all three of these, several times over the years.
And I would wager that Amazon ships more treadmills and elliptical bikes in
January than it does in any other three months of the year combined.)
Lately,
Lorna and I have been watching some brief YouTube videos that are simply titled
‘The History Guy.’ If you haven’t seen this guy’s (in his words) “short snippets
of history that deserve to be remembered,” I think you should check them out.
What I have
realized, in watching the videos and listening to The History Guy explain one
bit of history or another, is that we, as humans, share much, especially in the
basic experience of life, but also in things like temperaments and desires. It doesn’t
seem to matter if you were born twenty years ago or two hundred, the good, the
bad, and the ugly things about people never seem to change.
The people
in the videos were obviously born, as we all once were. They then moved
inexorably into the next second of their lives, and then the next minute, hour,
day, week, month, year, and even decade, as we all do. Each of us seems to
march down his or her own particular path in life at the same pace, guided by
those days, months, and years. Sadly, some paths are much shorter than others.
Some are bumpier, some are steeper and harder to walk than others. And then, at
some point, each of us reaches a last second here; that time, I believe, being known
by God from our very beginning.
I hope you
don’t take this take on life to be something negative. I don’t mean it to be, at all. In fact, my
idea of how to face the brand-new year just ahead is to live it in contentment,
with what blessings we have been given, being satisfied with our lot here. “Godliness
with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy, 6:6. Holy Bible.
I have read
that the true definition of the Hawaiian word aloha is this: “To consciously
manifest life joyously in the present.”
To me, that deserves to be remembered.
Happy New
Year! Try to receive the blessings of
every hour, minute, and second that it holds for you! Remember, the moment you
start acting like life is a blessing, it starts to feel like one.
