May the Hard Edges Soften
Picture me snapping this picture while walking across campus this morning to pick my son up after swim practice.
Now see me thinking of how to incorporate the photo into an end-of-year message to people I care about.
I’m wishing you a calm and celebratory day (or else an invigorating one, if that’s your thing). And as we pass midnight, whether awake or tucked sound asleep, I wish you a beautiful transition to a new year.
If you’re still working through this cobblestone and moss metaphor with me, I hope this season marks a glorious blending of the old and new. May the hard edges of 2025 soften like these cobblestones and come into perspective with time’s passage. May the gaps and crevices of moments lost prove welcome substrate for the cultivation of all that is to come. And may what blossomed last year keep its lustre or make necessary way for what needs to grow in coming seasons.
For many, the past year was more akin to dinged and grubby cobblestone than newly-installed subway tile backsplash. And it was real.
The past year will always have existed. Whether you felt it was overall more good or bad, I have a suspicion it was at times hilarious, energizing, and heartbreaking. Moments were beyond satisfying and others fell short. The highs and lows were many and varied, as they are for any human organism who makes it through a whole year.
We are a people who look for patterns and trends. Still, we should direct focus to the patterns that serve us.
The calendar is a clever construct and we judge many things by its months. Giant corporations tell us that our music-listening and book-reading years all follow this calendar. The you of last year tallied this many listens or that many reads. You ranked this high or came that close to a goal they asked you to declare.
Funny to sort such meaningful, soulful undertakings as books and music along these artificial breaks. But, the best new beginning is any one you choose to make. Maybe that is tomorrow in a new month of a new year. Or maybe it was a decision you made last week or forty-some days ago on a Tuesday. That moment set you on the (cobbled, mossy?) path you want to follow. The point is, go with it. The point is, you get to choose most of your paths and who you walk them with. Not all, but many.
My wish is that your choosing goes well in the coming year and all those to follow. And that the patterns you create and the focus you give bring contentment and joy.
