HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It’s one of those perfunctory greetings we exchange for a few weeks, often without really thinking.
What’s it mean? If you recently lost your job, your house nears foreclosure, or a relationship just ended painfully, do I really expect your new year to begin “happily?”
I realize that it’s just a phrase, not something in which speaker or listener typically invests a great deal of thought. But to one facing an uncertain future clouded by illness, injury, or despair, “Happy” may ring a bit hollow.
As I listen to readers of Relentless Grace, I’m struck by the truth of the statement, “Everybody’s got a story.” Those stories always contain some mixture of triumph and tragedy, but a consistent theme seems to be a tendency to focus on struggle over success. I’ve been there, and I certainly understand the temptation to dwell on disaster, especially when it’s current. Encouraging platitudes about the benefits of misfortune seem less inspirational in the middle of the storm.
One of main goals in telling my own story involved avoiding the temptation to present simplistic solutions to complex, painful issues. Easy five-step plans don’t exist for the gut wrenching dilemmas we all face at some point.
It usually requires a longer term perspective to discern the blessings concealed within adversity. So while I’d never tell someone in the midst of struggle to just count their blessings, I emphatically believe that those blessings exist.
Question: What do you intend when you wish someone a “Happy New Year?”
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