The corks have been popped, the confetti has been tossed, and a new year is underway!
New Year's is prized by many as a time of new beginnings, a time to make resolutions and set goals to get going on our best year ever.
New Year's is dreaded by others as a time to consider all the ways life hasn't met our expectations, how we haven't kept our resolutions or reached our goals.
But so often New Year's is a time when we focus on the big things we want to do, the "important" things we want to achieve, the monumental steps we want to take. So New Year's can become a time of losing our perspective.
Pope Francis offers some wisdom to counter our New Year's big-big-BIG tendencies. Perhaps you need his words as much as I did.
Like happiness, holiness is always tied to little gestures. These little gestures are those we learn at home, in the family; they get lost amid all the other things we do, yet they do make each day different. They are the quiet things done by mothers and grandmothers, by fathers and grandfathers, by children, by brothers and sisters. They are little signs of tenderness, affection, and compassion. Like the warm supper we look forward to at night, the early lunch awaiting someone who gets up early to go to work. Homely gestures. Like a blessing before we go to bed, or a hug after we return from a hard day's work.
Love is shown by little things, by attention to small daily signs which make us feel at home. Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love. That is why our families, our homes, are true domestic churches. They are the right place for faith to become life, and life to grow in faith.
-Pope Francis
"Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love." Amen to that!
May God help us to be faithful in the little things this new year!
Richella,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing!! I truly enjoyed this post!! And it gave me moment to pause and think about my own life.
Hugs,
Deb
Happy New Year!!
ReplyDeleteMay this New Year be special in every way ... bringing you the gift of love and excitement.
I will introduce Japanese New Year's customs.
In Japan, there is a New Year holiday where family and relatives get together.
On New Year, Japanese children receive gifts of money known as "Otoshidama".
Otoshidama is given to children by adult relatives such as uncles, aunts and grandparents.
The amount of Otoshidama grows as the child older, for example, 1000 yen for children under 10, and 3000 yen for children over 10.
Otoshidama is one of the exciting traditions of New Year, which children look forward to very much.
Ryoma.