Dear Miracle Workers,

It’s all arbitrary, this thing called time, calendars, an old year ending, a new year beginning. In truth there is nothing truly significant about that moment between midnight and midnight, December 31st 2021 and January 1, 2022. It is our minds that makes these moments significant. "I have given everything I see ... all the meaning that it has for me." (OrEd.WkBk.2) While there is no doubt that this is true the desire to make the coming midnight moment significant is very strong. We still seem to exist in a world that is constantly aware of what time it is. We have clocks everywhere ”Yet what meaning can the words convey to those who count the hours still and rise and work and go to sleep by them?" (OrEd.WkBk.169.9)

2021 started in the midst of the pandemic which we had thought was over but then surged again. 2021 ends in the midst of a pandemic which we had thought was over but then surged again. I think I’ve had enough of that repetition "Human living has indeed been needlessly wasted in a repetition compulsion." (OrEd.Tx.4.3) I am definitely ready to let go of this repetition compulsion.

There is always reason to be joyful, sometimes it just seems a little more challenging to stay focussed on that, but I believe we are up for the challenge. Perhaps it is useful to associate joy with freedom. This ACIM passage about the new year does, “So will the year begin in joy and freedom. There is much to do, and we have been long delayed." (OrEd.Tx.15.112) While it may not seem to be the most joyful and free thing to think about how much work we have ahead of us in the new year, at least we know we are needed.

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(originally appeared in Miracles Weekly #319, Dec. 30 2021)