I have always loved the start of a new year…a fresh start, a beginning, the first chapter in a book just opening, a clean slate full of endless possibilities. And then…I came down with COVID right before New Year’s Eve. I know many have now had it, so it’s like ‘join the club.’ Still, it seems like even admitting it still carries a little bit of a stigma…like the lepers back in the day.
I’m finally over it, but I do have to also admit it seemed to cast a pall on my positivity in my New Year outlook. So I am reminding myself (and hopefully encouraging you) that I chose a word to carry forth in 2022 (which I’ve never really done before) given to me by my parish priest Father Jim Yeakel in December, and that is “COURAGE.” I had gone to him to tell him how I was still full of doubts as 2021 came to a close…would the book I just submitted to my publisher be good enough? Would the class I was about to teach in January be good enough? Was I a good enough wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, friend? Well, those answers will only come with time, and only I can both find and live the “yes” to each.
In writing this I hope you – and I – can put aside our doubts and fears, whatever they may be, and realize we ARE good enough, not only because God “fearfully and wonderfully” made us that way, but because HE goes before us in the person of Jesus, to show us the way. Half of our battle, then, is attitude.
I pray I carry on through this day with courage (and joy!) because I am good enough…and so much more.
