The Questions Haven't Changed - Have Your Answers

Some thoughts on the coming season.

The questions haven't really changed since last year, but what about our answers?

Who are you today?
How have you changed in the last year?
Where do you want to get to in the time to come?

There are really three directions in which I would encourage you to approach these questions.

In
Out
Up

The inwards direction has to be our point of departure. How do we relate to ourselves? Are we frustrated, tired, lost, angry or confused? Or maybe we are delighted, proud or clear-of-focus. How are you relating to yourself today, how has this relationship changed in the last year, where do you want to get to in the year to come?

The outwards direction is our relationship to our fellow human beings. Run through the list; begin with your family members - your wife, husband, your children, parents. (Incidentally there will comparatively few of us with 'all of the above.' This is also a time for being grateful for those family members we have, remembering those we have lost and turning to consider those we may one day find). Think of your work colleagues, friends, acquaintances, even those flash encounters, those passers by in the street whose faces you can recollect because your encounter touched your heart, somehow.
How would you consider these relationships over the last year, where do you want to get to in the year to come?

The 'upwards' direction is not to be taken literally. It is the direction of our relationship between ourselves and our Cosmos, our Creator, our God. How are you doing in the context of the world? It's not a trite question. We all have a little piece of a broken Universe it is only for us to put back together. You are here for a reason, do you know what that reason is? At the very least we must leave the world no worse than we find it, how successful are you in that endeavour? How can you and the Big World Out There get on better in the year to come?

The questions haven't changed since last year. The danger is that our answers may not have changed either. Please take a few minutes to begin the process of applying yourselves to these questions in the coming days. Your life depends on it.