A little over a year ago when I began this blog, I searched for an outlet for my verbosity. More often than not, I have something to say, but I didn’t just want to write about something that mattered to me, I wanted to write about social glue, the world’s adhesive that connects us all and that would keep you reading. Love would always be the answer to that.
It’s been the pacemaker for a tumultuous 2011. This year has been a tough one for many. There has been more grief in 365 days than people have known their entire lifetimes and the hope is that when you reach the darkest of places, light will shine somewhere, someplace somehow. Two weeks ago I wrote how love saved me in my grief.
What strengthens us to survive is hope in love - greater than we give, stronger than we feel and more than we deserve. In my life, this is how I’ve got to know and experience its meaning.
This year, I've seen the evaporation of hope in my own and in my friend’s lives. Even if momentary, it stands as the loneliest moment of life. It is dark, it is still, it is silent. We wait on love to heal us. It’s what we wish for every New Year, it’s what we share every Christmas, and it’s our life support. Switched off, we are dull, emotionless and empty. Switched on, we are restored, revived and renewed.
When love speaks it reminds you that everything is going to be ok and thank God for it because so many of us this year have needed the reminder.
I had friends grieve loved ones, I've seen the breakdown of marriages, I've seen the grievance of health once taken for granted in many people undeserving of the grief (not that anyone ever deserves sadness). The secret to healing for each heartache (no matter how broken the situation or the person in it) was love because it breathes hope back into our lives.
Hope is what separates a new year from an old one. Time passes and although we don’t see the change, we are strengthened to make change because hope makes it seem possible and love drives the dream.
At midnight on 1/01 2012, families will start the year together and be grateful for a new beginning, some people will seek forgiveness, some will search for the perfect pairing to share in a New Year’s kiss and others will look to spend another year planning life and living love with those they hold dear. At midnight the world speaks one language and says a prayer for hope, for joy for peace and for love.
Before the midnight fireworks, the world waits with baited breath to say a prayer, pop open a bottle of champagne, to kiss a loved one, to remember love lost and hope for a new beginning. Second chances begin at midnight and somehow miraculously clean the slate of a bad year gone by. On New Year’s Eve we reflect on what we have done, what we are doing and what we will do in the year to come. We smile at our highs and we grow from our lows and surround ourselves with the people that exist to better us. We resolve to be our best and have the finest of people and experiences in our lives.
We open ourselves up for new adventure. We dispense with fear. We welcome love and reject dread of love hurting us. We don’t worry about the ‘what-ifs,’ and for one night, everything feels possible. A big part of that encouragement is that on New Year’s, we are always surrounded by those we love, inspiring a better you.
With love inside us and beside us, we decide to be better, not just for that moment, not just for a day, but for the entire year before us. We give love, we receive love and we let love change us.
Here’s hoping that the New Year answers your prayers, evaporates your fears, restores your hope, revives your dreams and most importantly, brings you love.
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