(A belated) Happy New Year!

As soon as the holidays started, 90% of my brain called “Hooroo!” and took off before the remaining 10% – left behind to keep things going (or to make it at least appear that things were still going) – had a chance to protest. Since then, the 10% (understandably annoyed) has tried to lure the 90% back with articles about things like women in the church (“This should bring her back! It’s always worked in the past!”) and, later, violent threats, however each attempt has been met with my brain’s version of the out-of-the-office email, saying something along the lines of, “The 90% is currently on leave until the end of January. Please direct all thought-provoking material and/or aggression to Belle’s husband until her return.”

For my husband’s brain has not taken a break this year; he wrote the following on New Year’s Eve while I lounged around being not at all creative, and he’s kindly let me share it here. (I know it’s a week into 2013 already, but I HAVE A LOT TO DO, OKAY?! YOU’VE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT IS BEING 10% OF A BRAIN TRYING TO DO 100% OF THE WORK *weeps*)

from here

Happy New Year by Belle’s Husband

I’m feeling the pressure right now to type something profound about the start of another year. I’ve planned out my resolutions and the structures which I’m putting in place to achieve them and so far they’re off to a good start. But the fact remains that there is no real difference between today and yesterday; each day flows into the next with only the occasional man-made sign post to break the monotony – a birthday here, an anniversary there and a new year’s party to celebrate the regularity of the seasons and the fact that life keeps ticking away.

And even though I know that each day is a carbon copy of the one before, there’s something in me that loves the fact that we break life into chunks of all different sizes. There’s something so convenient about being able to grab the chunk of time which is most useful for the task at hand. If you have an essay to write you can think in terms of weeks; if you’re trying to gestate a baby then let’s talk in months; if you want to microwave a pappadum then someone has helpfully split the day into 86400 seconds of which you should use 17.

In the reflective mood I’m currently in, a year seems the perfect amount of time to be handed. It’s as though 2013 is my Christmas present to make the most of: 365 days to turn into a mind full of experiences and wonder, knowledge and wisdom. 365 days to spend with Belle and Moses and get to know them even better, to learn how to love them, to sit alongside them and weep and laugh and wonder at God’s creation. 365 days to absorb God’s word so that it soaks through me and leaches out of my pores, so that it changes the way I think and plan and act and speak. 365 days of being led by the Spirit of God, so that not only may my steps honour him but I might be able to see His work happening through my hands!

2013, I can’t wait! But let’s not let this be abstract – today, I can’t wait!