Another new beginning

It is once again a new year. Another chance at life. A time of new beginnings. For this, we thank the Lord, a God who gives us new opportunities, a God of second, and third, and fourth and so on, chances.

How does 2013 look to us? What new things will it bring? How should we respond to yet another opportunity of starting anew? Which road, out of many highways and byways, do we take this new year?

The poet Robert Frost wrote a haunting poem, The Road Not Taken, the last stanza of which reads:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverge in a wood, and I ‑

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Indeed, there are decisions to make, and we need to sincerely pray for the Lord’s guidance as we make those decisions, and be more confident that we take the right road without any regret of the road not taken. Of course, our loving God also guides us into taking u-turns when we commit mistakes, when somehow we fail to see or, having seen, still fail to follow His directions. Always, if we humble ourselves and seek His will, He will direct us to the right path.

Thus, prayer is the best starting point for a decision to be made. For prayer itself is indicative of our attitude, an attitude that recognizes that beyond ourselves, there is God who has the most wonderful plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11). Such attitude makes the whole difference in everything we do. Rightly so, the actions we take begin with our attitude, with our outlook, with our appreciation and our experience of the loving hand of God in our lives.

The difference that an attitude makes became clear again to me in the past few weeks.

One tradition that my wife Babylou and I observe is to go home and be with our respective mothers during their birthdays. My Mom is 94 years old, with no serious ailments (thank God!), but is hard of hearing, and now moves around in a wheel chair due to weak knees. It used to be, in every visit I make, that we play a game, designed to keep her mind stimulated. My Mom used to be a teacher, is fond of poems and still memorizes a few to this day. I would recite an opening line, and she would continue on and finish the stanza, complete with feelings. Of course, it is becoming more difficult to do this as the years advance.

I remember fondly that one of those she could still recite from memory is a portion of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray, a poignant stanza of which says:

Full many a gem of purest ray serene, the dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness in the desert air.

After reciting the stanza, she would invariably say, “Kalu-oy no?” (meaning, “how pitiful”). She refers to people, who because of their situations, are hidden from the eyes of many and not recognized for what they are and what their full potential can bring. She could very well refer to the poor, who are likewise created in the image and likeness of God, but because of their situation, remain uneducated, unhealthy, ignored, and thus unappreciated for what they are deep inside and what they can be. Indeed, “kalu-oy,” if that is all there is to it, if it remains that way, if our attitude just says that’s the way it is and we cannot do anything about it.

On the other hand, in Isaiah 35, one of the readings during Advent, an altogether different attitude is expressed, one vibrant with hope, one that points to a new and exciting vision of renewal. With God, one does not remain in a sorry state, but can actually experience a rebirth and transformation. Its opening lines read:

The desert will rejoice, and the flowers will bloom in the wastelands,

The desert will sing and shout for joy; it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains and as fertile as the fields of Carmel and Sharon.

Everyone will see the Lord’s splendor, see his greatness and power.

In the Good News Bible version, Isaiah 35 is entitled “The Road of Holiness,” and it could very well be the road to take in 2013, and even in all the years to come. After painting a vision of a world that will experience the Lord’s splendor, power and greatness, that even the desert will rejoice, Isaiah tells us what our response should be, what we should do to help make it happen:

Give strength to hands that are tired

and to knees that tremble with weakness.

Tell everyone who is discouraged, “Be strong and don’t be afraid!

God is coming to your rescue,

coming to punish your enemies.”

When we respond that way, when we extend our hands to the poor and weak, when we share the good news of God’s love and the salvation He brings, when we become channels of hope to those in despair, Isaiah paints for us the miracles that will happen.

The blind will be able to see, and the deaf will hear.

The lame will leap and dance, and those who cannot speak will shout for joy.

Streams of water will flow through the desert; the burning sand will become a lake, and dry land will be filled with springs.

Where jackals used to live, marsh grass and reeds will grow.

The prophet then describes the road we should take.

There will be a highway there, called “The Road of Holiness.”

No sinner will ever travel that road; no fools will mislead those who follow it.

No lions will be there; no fierce animals will pass that way,

Those whom the Lord has rescued will travel home by that road.

And when we faithfully take that road, we are assured that we shall reach our ultimate destination in the heavenly Jerusalem.

They will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy,

They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief.

There it is, the road to be taken, laid out before us by a prophet of the Lord.

Indeed, while we thank our Lord of second chances for continuing to give us new opportunities, we know that this is not a forever open-ended situation that may lull us into inaction and procrastination.

A new year should therefore spur us into action, into a proactive responding, into a seizing the moment mindset, anchored on a hopeful attitude, that our God of new beginnings will journey with us, will guide us, will protect us, will bless us with miracle moments, and since he loves us unconditionally, will never leave us.

May we therefore confidently take the road of holiness that He is directing us all to follow.

Joe Tale, a lawyer, is a member of the Couples for Christ International Council and also Executive Vice President of the Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas (Council of the Laity of the Philippines).