New Year’s Eve in Time Square is not the magical event that the media makes it out to be. Michelle and I were there 10 years ago. It was the culmination of a 3.5-day whirlwind trip to the Big Apple that we did for our first anniversary – before “life” happened. We learned a lot about each other on that trip. As I reflect back on this trip and my resolutions for the coming year, I am struck with how much life changes.
Doing vs. Relaxing
For instance, I am a planner. I was in grad school at the time, and we didn’t have a lot of money. I had a $150 Applebees gift card, so I planned all our sightseeing in 15 minute increments using public transportation that would drop us close to an Applebees for every major meal. Who could have known that those same transit authorities we were using to move around the city would be the primary customers of the company for which I now work?
Michelle is a creative. She desperately wanted to be on the Today Show holding a unique sign for all our friends back home to see. Who could have known what kind of year it would be for the now infamous host (Matt Lauer), who I’m pretty sure we said “hello” to?
That trip was full of early mornings (3 AM, I think, for the Today Show), and late nights (midnight, of course, for the Ball Drop). In an attempt to do everything, we wore ourselves out. It was a 3.5 day trip (84 hours). We slept for 17 hours, and we walked the rest.
The Ball Drop
On New Year’s Eve, we left a matinee performance of Phantom of the Opera, ran back to our hotel to change, and then ran back to Time Square for the Ball Drop. It was about 7 PM, and 10 city blocks were already filled. To get into those city blocks, we had to pass through two barricaded check points. Throughout the next 5 hours, we were slowly herded closer and closer together with complete strangers until we had gained 2 additional blocks. From 8 blocks away, the ball is about the size of an eraser (see awesome pic I took with my 2008 flip phone), and, after 5 hours of standing in the cold and being corralled up 2 blocks, watching the ball drop was not the magical experience they present on TV. It’s fun to say I did it, but I would not do it again.
I look at pictures from that event, and I think about how much life has changed.
Changing Times
Life has changed in drastic ways for all of us in the past 10 years.
Some good. Some bad.
Just think about where you were 10 years ago.
The truth is, change is inevitable.
Our resolutions are an attempt to shape and control that change instead of letting that change shape and control us.
We can’t control all of the change. That would be absurd. But we can control our attitude towards the change.
For me and my family, 2017 was a VERY big year – full of lots of change.
So my goals and resolutions for 2018 can be summed up with these words: Slow and Simple.
Could the bottom fall out? Could the Lord take us in a completely new and different direction?
Absolutely!
Conclusion and Resolution
But, as I have prayed about the coming year, we will approach those changes slowly, simply, and deliberately.
As this New Year dawns, I would encourage you to seek the Lord for the attitudes, actions, and areas of growth He has for you. They will no doubt be different from mine, but, regardless of where you find yourself, I wish you a very Happy New Year!
Additional Resources
If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy my book on relational theology The Relational God :
Additional Thoughts
This post is one in a group of posts About Life. As I teach, study, or experience certain passages, topics, or events, I find it helpful to coalesce my thoughts into a cogent blog post.
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