Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Closing the door on last year

 by Julie Carter

I’m not an advocate of looking over my shoulder into the past unless it’s to learn something from it, document it, or simply offer one last glance at where I have been to understand where I am now. Perhaps the retrospect is to help see where I am going although that is almost always a surprise even to me.

Everyone reading this had a last year. Each of you had some highs, lows, quiet, busy, memorable and maybe even some you’d rather forget. Sorting that is an individual choice. Every year if we are lucky, we get a new year, a new number. Looking for God’s promise in the year gives hope and raises spirits.  Hope renewed -- never a shortage of those needing that. I’m at the front of that line.

We are here again - the dawning of new numbers, new opportunities. A good portion of us spent the calendar change looking at snowy skies and bitter cold temperatures. Some of us never lose the anticipation of spring being just beyond the winter, envisioning anticipate the first buds of flowering trees and shrubs, the peeping forth of those early spring bulbs and the arrival of migrating birds that herald warmer temperature.

Life is a lot like that -- looking for the better in it instead of dwelling on the hard parts.

In our humanness, we have all at one time or another wandered in the proverbial wilderness.

We live in a world long past understanding what is foundationally important in life. 

Gone are the days when the majority of the people work back-breaking hard just to survive and don’t have time to fuss over things that have no value in the survival scheme. Those days were of people who went to bed tired and woke in the morning thinking they were blessed.

In the world today, we expect much and offer little however, disasters have a way of leveling the playing field. Fires, flood, blizzards and more have rolled over civilization with no regard to rank or social standing. We continue to see that reminder unfold before us.

This country and its people are being tested, one test at a time. We are being put in a place to choose between fluff and value with the ability to do that buried somewhere deep within us. Some of us are forced into situations to find it.

We are two or three generations away from any learned survival skills for the really tough stuff. Our hardest decisions usually revolve around satellite or cable, butter or margarine and finding the gas station with the cheapest fuel.

It is said that the three essentials for happiness are something to do, something to love and something to hope for. It is not that hard to find some of each if we take the time to look.

A wise old fellow once told me that in all his 90-some years, he had seen changes come and go but that there were some things that never changed. “The way the sun rises and the way the sun sets. That has not changed one bit,” he said.

That wisdom offers solid thought for where to start a new season in your life.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com