As I take pen in hand, the new year winks at me and grins. It arrived amid a loud and often-repeated burst of fireworks. I was still unable to sleep at 3:00…(sigh) We’ve lived on this property for many years and either we have doubled the number of neighbors or the ones we have decided to really set off the pyrotechnics. The latter is the obvious answer.

The new calendar hangs on the wall in my home office and another one adorns the fridge. Here we are…..again.

So many new years have come and gone. My newest career change had me working New Year’s Eve. Vamos! That’s Spanish for “Let’s go!” We closed the restaurant early and I came home to an excited Rat Terrier.

If anybody truly knows what the coming year will bring, by all means, fill me in. While you’re at it, I can use a winning lottery number. (cheeky grin)

The blank page of this yellow legal pad seems to taunt me; daring me to complete one more blog. How can a single yellow sheet of paper know how truly rusty I feel?

On another note: does the arrival of another new year seem different to anyone or is it just me? Every new year’s beginning has always felt like a fresh start beckoning to me. Every January first the new year would come and with it came the hope and promise of a clean slate. Not so with 2022. Sadly, THIS new year came knocking and I was more than a little reluctant to open the door. It felt like the days when I’d just mopped the kitchen floor and before it was even dry, my two boys would come rushing in and start plundering the pantry, fridge, or wherever a snack might present itself. In their wake was a trail of grass clippings, dirt and other debris. Sometimes, I miss that kind of busy-ness. It beats the tar out of the chaos we face today.

This new year felt like it arrived with an entire posse and all their baggage and I didn’t want to have anything to do with it! It was not MY job to unpack all the suitcases and yet, it came whether I wanted it or not, entourage and all.

So here we are…again. I’m just not sure where to go from here. Our nation and my state of South Carolina are both facing mid-term elections. Lord help us. I do not say that with a flippant attitude. We truly need HIS help. If I’ve learned anything from this global pandemic and all its fallout, we need some divine intervention now more than ever. As a Bible-believing child of God I am personally expecting Jesus to show up just any time. I am ready to meet Him. Are you?