Considering the new shape

Tonight I consider the stretch of time in front of me known as the new year.  There are a number of things that I want to happen, some of them possible, some of them unlikely.  Nonetheless, I know that next year at this time, I will look backward for a moment to assess how the year went and how the new year must go, as I am doing tonight.

Each year has its own character, so I don't know at this point what shape the year will have.  I have an agenda for the year to help it keep on track, but the #1 item on the agenda is not a happening that I have control over.  I'm not sure I can even contribute to its happening or not happening, but maybe.  It's not an occurrence that is on the same plane as a professional athlete practicing hard and long and making some desire of his or hers happen from sheer will.

So, I will watch the year take shape - participating where I can, planning where it is prudent, enjoying moments where they present themselves - believing that something good, something more than I deserve, something with happiness, something that I don't control necessarily but that comes to me will fill the stretch of time in front of me called a year with raw, undiluted, unmistakable, soul-rattling contentment - believing that life will say, as Captain Picard said so often on Star Trek as he gave a command: Make it so.